Two Morons and A Mad House
by OfPaintAndOil
Summary: Sakura escaped the Uchiha mansion with her dignity intact, but that doesn't mean she's still not gonna kill Naruto and Sasuke. Now with the overprotective dog and the Paint War just beginning, she may yet just move in with Ino and be done with it all . . . or change her name and move—whichever comes first. Sequel to Sakura's Moronic Best Friends. Rated T. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing relating to _Naruto_. All rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

"All I'm saying, Forehead, is that it wouldn't kill you to have some interaction with the opposite sex . . . that _doesn't_ include Sasuke and Naruto." Ino waved her perfectly manicured hand in lazy circles as if to prove her point. She was sitting opposite Sakura in a little local bakery, and it was a Sunday around six in the morning, and while Sakura would have had no qualms about throwing on some sweats and whatever sweater her hands found first, it was days like this that she was glad she'd thrown on a plain black dress, half-sleeved and stopped right before her knees, along with gray tights, all of which had the consistency of a sweater. Glad, because there was Ino across from her, legs crossed daintily over each other, leaning back in her chair like it was a throne, and dressed in nothing worse than her Sunday best – meaning, brand-name skinny jeans and a button-down blouse that matched her eyes and high heels that Sakura highly suspected cost more than her whole wardrobe.

To be fair, Sakura _had_ been dressing, in Ino's words, like "A tired housewife whose closet was adorned in nothing but baby food stained T-shirts and grungy jeans," with a shudder inserted somewhere in there.

Honestly, Sakura couldn't care less, and she was just as likely to pull on a dress and tights as sweats, so if Ino felt better with seeing her in a dress, so be it. She was just as comfortable as she was, and was well known to go to her university classes in a dress and tights – likely with one of her many scarves thrown on as well – so she wasn't really complaining. Unlike popular belief, she _did_ actually like to look good when she went out in public. She was just . . . unmotivated to do so, sometimes.

Sakura took a sip of her raspberry tea, moving the cream colored mug around in her hands to warm them up, her rings clicking against the surface of it. It was between fall and winter right then, the pinnacle moment when the air couldn't decide if it wanted to freeze her or just blow the occasional chilly breeze, and would differ to each option every now-and-then.

Ino frowned at her, her perfectly red lips twisted into one of her more well-known pouts. Sakura smirked at her good-naturedly. "It was already bad enough how much time you all spent together before, now that you're living together – which I still cannot get over – they're going to be even clingier."

Sakura blinked lazily at her and bit back the yawn making its way up her throat. "I really don't think living together is going to change that."

Ino just gave her a blank look, and Sakura grinned innocently at her. Ino sighed and circled a red-painted fingernail around the rim of her coffee, blueberry muffin untouched next to it. Sakura had already devoured her cinnamon scone, and was eyeing Ino's muffin.

Seeing her stare, Ino rolled her eyes and pushed her plate with the muffin at Sakura. Sakura didn't need to be told twice. "And you call me the pig."

"Because you are, Pig," Sakura mumbled between bites. Oh . . . it was soft. "You just don't ever have an appetite in the morning."

Sakura folded her ankles together under the table they had claimed as their own on these mornings, next to the windows and the farthest away from the doors and the gust of cold air that entered the shop every time someone walked in. Which was too often if you asked Sakura.

"You had all that amazing eye candy," Ino groaned, not for the first time and despite Sakura's many, many protests, most likely not the last, either. "You had all those hunkalicious men, all wanting your fabulous body, and you. Just. Left."

Sakura just took another bite of muffin. Oh . . . it was still warm in the middle, too.

Ino huffed. "And you don't even care! I swear, if it was any other woman, they'd be jumping for joy at your predicament."

Sakura swallowed and dabbed a napkin to the corners of her lips like a proper lady . . . who just ate a muffin twice the size of her fist in about three bites. "I told you what Mikoto said. She wasn't going to let me leave without a ring on my finger and a Uchiha fan tattooed somewhere on my body."

Ino blinked at her. "You say that like it's a _bad_ thing."

Sakura glared. "It _is_ a bad thing. Especially since Mikoto most likely flooded my apartment."

Ino leaned back in her seat and made a pitying sound in her throat. "That is a shame. You had some really cute shoes, too."

Sakura rolled her eyes and checked her phone . . . which had three missed calls and about a dozen text messages. Shit.

She stood up suddenly. "I gotta go. Those morons are likely to ruin all my hard work if I don't get back."

Ino's eyebrows rose. "You mean to tell me Naruto's actually up right now." She glanced at her watch. "But it's not even noon yet."

Sakura gave a devilish smirk. "Yes, well . . . I may have let the dog into his room before I left." Ino just raised her eyebrows higher. "And I left before the screams started."

"Cruel woman." Ino smirked. "I like it."

Sakura gave her a smirk of her own and grabbed her purse from the empty seat next to her, pulling it over her head as it rested at her hip. "Next Sunday, same time?"

"Hell, yeah. We haven't done this in forever. And now you have fewer hours at the hospital, right?"

Sakura nodded. "I'm still getting over being sick, and you know how Naruto and Sasuke react to something like that. I'm on mandatory paid leave until my prison guards decide I'm not going to kneel over and die." She rolled her eyes, but there was no bite to her words.

It turned out when she'd been at the Uchiha mansion that it hadn't been a simple cold she'd caught, but the flu. Or at least, it had started out as a cold, and then the moment she got away from all the perverts at the mansion, she was bedridden at Ino's. It hadn't helped that she had literally no clothes of her own and only a handful of possessions left from the flooding (that of which included the shoebox of Sasuke's gender-bender child photos via Mikoto, thank Kami). She also had to deal with the fallout and paperwork and insurance and all that other adult crap she hadn't wanted to deal with.

But it turned out she didn't have to. Whether she wanted them to or not, Naruto, Sasuke, and Ino had all banded together and made sure everything was taken care of. Sakura got an extended paid leave from the hospital and was excused from all her classes. Naruto and Sasuke even went so far as to meet with all of her professors and get any notes and assignments they could, since they knew her well enough that she would only make herself sicker with the thought of all the work she was missing. She knew that with the Uchiha's, Uzumaki's, and Yamanaka's clan heirs' influence, these things weren't all that difficult. A few phone calls, a few name drops, and everything was hunky-dory.

Naruto and Sasuke (mostly Sasuke) even went apartment hunting without her. When they found something they thought was reasonable, they'd send her photos, and she'd _yay_ or _nay_ it. When they got down to a handful of options, Sakura got to come out of her cave of chicken noodle soup and warm blankets and ventured out (with Naruto and Sasuke's insistent codling, of course) to look at the prospects herself.

After forcing Sasuke to give her all the information on the apartment and after doing the math herself about how much they'd have to split the cost of living between them, Sakura figured she could do it, even with her pathetic price range.

Both Naruto and Sasuke had attempted to probe and coerce her into not paying her part of the rent – in much the same way they tried to prevent her from ever paying for her meal when they went out – saying that they could just cover everything themselves.

And it was true. The inheritance they each had was ridiculous. They could both easily pay the full rent of this place and three others just like it without thinking twice. In fact, at first they had tried to get her to look at much, _much_ pricier living areas – penthouses and the like – but Sakura saw through that BS right away and smacked them down. Firstly, they didn't need all that space and Sakura could totally see herself as having to clean a ridiculously large apartment filled with ramen cups and manuals on how to destroy the human race, and she just wasn't up for that. (When she'd brought this issue up, Sasuke had the gall to recommend hiring a maid . . . or just stealing one of the ones they already had working at the Uchiha mansion, and so Sakura – being the woman she was – gave him quite the little beat down for that one. She was going to teach those two damn clan heirs the meaning of personal responsibility and how to clean up after themselves if it was the last thing she did.) This way, they each had their own living area and could stick to it, and then rotate a cleaning schedule for the other main parts of the place.

They'd finally decided on a bit pricier place than Sakura would have liked, but she could still manage, about five miles away from the hospital and even closer to her university, which was the main selling factor for her. It was mostly hardwood flooring with some teal carpet in the bedrooms (three in total) and tiles in the kitchen and bathrooms (two in total). It was on one of the higher floors of the complex, and so they only took the elevator in getting to it, much to Sakura's glee at not having to climb an insane amount of stairs everyday like she had to do at her last place.

Sakura only saw it once before she had to recede into the den of hot tea and many, many medicine boxes at Ino's place. But she trusted Naruto and Sasuke enough to make a decent decision (well . . . she trusted Sasuke in this sense). And, honestly, she just wanted a place to live at that point.

And then came the shopping.

Ino was a godsend during this time, and helped pick most of Sakura's stuff out for her. She had received a decent amount of insurance money to replace all her damaged items (how that happened, she had no idea. Sakura couldn't remember ever getting flooding insurance, but she also highly suspected Sasuke had made some calls on her behalf. At least, that was her best guess based on how polite and generous the man had been when she'd talked to the insurance company. Seriously . . . _no_ insurance was that friendly), but had been too sick to go out and do the shopping herself, so the only other option Sakura had seen was letting Naruto and Sasuke pick everything out ( _shudder_ ). Kami only knew what she would end up with.

But then Ino had stepped in (and _on_ , in that one case when one of Ino's blood red stilettos had made contact with Naruto's face) and taken care of Sakura's furniture and . . . everything else.

Which was how she came to end up with more dresses and kitten heels than she ever cared to own. Really, though.

By the time Sakura recovered and left Ino's (despite Ino's own protests and not-to-subtle hints at tying her down to the bed and Mr. Yamanaka's insistence that she was always welcome there, and the again not-so-subtle hints that she was the only decent example in Ino's life, Kami help that fashion obsessed girl and his thinning wallet), Ino had already had all Sakura's new things shipped to the new apartment.

Sakura hadn't known what she had been expecting, but Ino came through for her . . . mostly. She could have done without all the pink, but at least it was a soft, dull pink and not a hot, neon pink that Ino had threatened her with.

On multiple occasions, Sakura had attempted to explain that despite her odd natural hair color, pink was not her favorite color. But – _apparently_ – that was a moot point.

Turned out, both Naruto and Sasuke had gotten her other, more extravagant "housewarming" gifts (which she still didn't understand, since they were all living together) in their own personal colors. So what that meant for her was that the apartment was a rainbow mess of pink, blue, and orange.

"Oh," Ino suddenly said, slamming her coffee down on the table with a look of surprise. "I almost forgot – Shika and me and a few others are going to that club tonight . . . you know, that new popular one a few streets away from the university–"

" _Red Dawn_?" Sakura supplemented.

"Yeah! That's the one!" Ino laughed. "Anyways, I wanted to check it out after hearing Karin talk it up – you know she got that job there as the barista?"

Sakura blinked and raised an eyebrow. "I knew she had the interview; I didn't know she got it, though."

"Well, she did. And she says it lives up to all expectations." Ino grinned up at her. "Come on, Forehead. It would make Karin happy."

Sakura scratched at her wrist and twisted her lips. "Tonight? What time?"

Ino told her, and finally Sakura relented. Kami knew she loved Karin if she was willing to go to a club for her.

* * *

The first thing Sakura saw after she took the elevator up to her apartment and unlocked the door was Blue.

Blue, because that was the dog's name – a puppy Golden Retriever, just like Naruto whined about getting – and because the dog was covered in blue paint.

Great.

It must be dry, she noted, because as the dog skidded over to her – literally _skidded_ , because of the hard floor and the puppy still getting accommodated to his lanky limbs and too floppy ears – he didn't leave blue footprints or drops on the floor as he went.

Sakura knelt down and rubbed Blue's ears as he furiously sniffed at her, sneezed not-so-daintily at what she could only suppose was Ino's perfume, and made a vaguely whinny noise in the back of his throat.

Naruto had been the one to pick him out when all three of them went to the animal shelter. Sasuke had whispered in her ear at the time that it was because Naruto must have seen a kindred soul in the dog, what with all the drooling and shedding and whinny noises. Sakura had had to smother her laugh as Naruto had turned back to her and Sasuke, made puppy dog eyes at them both and pleaded for them to get the dog, his head temple-to-temple with Blue's, who also – for more obvious reasons – was working his puppy dog eyes.

So they got the dog.

The only concession they had to make was with the name. Because Naruto got to pick out the dog, Sasuke got to name it. And because the Paint War had been going strong, even then, Sasuke named the dog the one thing that would undoubtedly annoy Naruto the most.

And what concession did Sakura get? Well, her concession was that the dog – against all reasons – bonded the most with her, and therefore, she got a new guard dog (an _actual_ guard dog, even; she wasn't talking about Naruto or Sasuke or even Tobi).

There had been more than one occasion when Naruto or Sasuke would call her cellphone when she was out because Blue wouldn't stop whining and howling because he missed her. And despite Naruto's protests and attempts with many, many doggy treats, Blue would only sleep in Sakura's room, curled up at the end of her bed or near the door on the floor.

"Where are they, Blue?" she murmured to the dog. Blue just opened his mouth and let his pink tongue roll out to greet her. He licked her hand.

Sakura made her way over to where Blue had skidded over from, which happened to be the kitchen. She vaguely remembered that they had decided to paint it a light blue (meaning: Sasuke fought for his dark, navy blue and Naruto screamed for his neon orange, and Sakura was ready to put her foot down and just demand pink, even though she didn't actually want pink walls, but knew it would piss them both off, but ended up just slapping her hands over both their mouths and ordering it to be painted a nice, sky blue, because it matched their new dinner plates and glasses) and today was the day they had decided it would be painted.

So, of course, this meant Sakura walked into a room laid with plastic all around the floor, paint tape lining the walls, and multiple cans of blue paint lying all around the room along with different sized brushes and rollers.

And, also, her two moronic best friends.

Completely covered in blue paint.

So much, in fact, that Sakura was sure there was more paint on them both then the actual walls, which weren't even a quarter done yet.

Blue wagged his tail from besides her as she clenched and unclenched her fists at her sides, watching her two best friends scream at each other (well. Naruto screamed. Sasuke seethed) and flick well placed blows of paint onto each other. Sakura felt her eyebrow twitch as she heard phrases along the lines of _Baka. If we'd just gone with my color, none of this would be happening_ and _Hn. Dobe_ and _Teme! I told you we should have just gotten the orange plates!_

Blue ran right up to them both and flipped onto his back, rubbing all around in the puddles of blue paint that had taken up residence along the plastic lining the floor. Well. She supposed he wasn't dry anymore, then.

And then, just to take the cake, a stray ball of blue paint, tossed by one of the morons – she couldn't tell which – hit the vase standing on the plastic-wrapped counter (why it was still there, she had no idea) and made it go tumbling onto the ground, breaking and covered in paint.

Sakura just sighed. That had been the new vase she'd gotten, too.

Finally, Naruto and Sasuke noticed her presence, and ceased fire. Even Blue stopped wiggling around on the paint-coated floor and stared up at her, pink tongue nowhere in sight, as if to say: _And you think I'm the animal in the place_.

"This," Sakura started. "This right here is why we can't have nice things."

Both boys looked equally guilty, but then Naruto shot out his long arm and pointed at Sasuke, saying, "It's the teme's fault for picking out such stupid colored plates!" A large drop of paint dripped from his sleeve that was once orange, but now was mixed with blue, making a disgusting color. Even his normally bright blonde hair was covered with the stuff, pressing it down and ridding it of its usual volume. Add that to the new color, and he resembled Sasuke with whiskers.

"Hn." Sasuke glared daggers at Naruto.

"Naruto," Sakura sighed. "It's just the kitchen. And it's not even the color blue Sasuke likes – it's too light.

"And what the hell is this?" Sakura continued, pointing accusingly at Blue, who just looked up at her and wagged his tail giddily, further spreading light blue paint around the plastic floor. "Blue could die if he eats the paint!"

Naruto and Sasuke just looked at Blue as if noticing him for the first time. Blue just looked back at them both and cocked his head, as if to say, _Well, this_ is _all your fault. Obviously._

Sometimes Sakura loved the dog more than she loved her two morons.

On cue, Blue jumped up and tackled Naruto, who just screamed and begged Sakura to come save him, but, honestly, Sakura was more concerned about the fact Blue was licking Naruto's face, which was covered in blue paint, and didn't these idiots just hear what she said?

Sasuke just turned to look at her with a bored expression. Honestly, it pissed Sakura off more than her broken vase.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "We're painting the bathroom pink."

Sasuke tensed right up and almost – _almost_ – gaped at her. She held up a hand to stop him. "No. You two have very nearly ruined the kitchen and broke another one of my _goddamn vases_ , so now, I get to pick the color of the bathroom, and I pick pink."

Sasuke just continued to glare at her while Naruto was still on the floor, underneath Blue, who was still mauling – oh, sorry, _licking_ – the boy and possibly poisoning himself. Naruto was making sounds that were both something of a laugh and a choke, and who obviously hadn't heard a word she'd said. Oh, well. He'd find out eventually, when Sakura came home with new cans of paint for the bathroom.

Sakura had made the diplomatic decision that she would buy all the paints (for obvious reasons). They would all decide on the colors together (for the most part . . . maybe) from those little color cards you could find at paint stores, but it was only Sakura who would venture out and actually buy the paints. She didn't trust either Sasuke or Naruto not to just come home with only blue or orange, respectively, and give some BS excuse as to why the store was out of every other color or something along those lines. Really. She wouldn't put it past them at this point.

She didn't even want a pink bathroom. But she _did_ want to piss both Sasuke and Naruto off and punish them for painting the dog blue.

They all could pick the colors for their personal bedrooms, and the colors both Sasuke and Naruto picked were obvious, but Sakura had picked a nice light shade of green for hers. It matched the green bedsheets Ino had picked out for her.

Figuring that Blue had ingested enough paint for one day, Sakura strode over to where the dog and Naruto lay crumpled together and picked Blue up by the scruff of his neck, careful not to hurt him and to not get any wet paint on her. She liked this dress far too much.

Instead, Blue turned to her and licked her cheek in one long stroke, and Sakura could feel the paint smear he left in his wake from his nose. She didn't even bother to attempt to wipe it off, but settled for glaring at both Naruto and Sasuke, dropping Blue and peeling back her lips from her teeth, as if to say, _He's_ your _dog – clean him up_.

After Sakura forced Naruto and Sasuke to clean up the mess they made and actually paint the kitchen walls with what was left of the paint, Sakura leaned against the doorframe to the kitchen and told them about going to the popular club Ino invited her to that morning.

"We should all go," Sakura continued, inspecting her clean nails and twirling some of her rings. "If for no other reason than to let all this paint dry without us having to smell it."

"What was the club again?" Sasuke asked.

"I think it's called _Red Dawn_ or something."

Sasuke froze, mid-step, hands wiping his painted jeans. Slowly, so slowly, he turned his head to look at her with what she could only compare to as owl's eyes.

Naruto was oblivious. "Sounds good, Sakura-chan! But . . . what about Blue?" He gazed down at the Blue in question, who was currently chewing ferociously on a doggie bone Sakura had picked up for him. "We can't just leave him by himself."

Sakura was still looking at Sasuke. "What?" she asked.

Sasuke just blinked and shook his head. "Nothing," he grumbled. "It just sounded familiar for a second."

All too used to his mood swings, Sakura just shrugged and turned back to Naruto. "Blue will be fine." She scratched the now clean dog behind her ear, to which he began thumping his tail on the ground. "He needs to learn to stay home by himself."

"I'll store away any valuables," Sasuke said, walking away to do just that.

Naruto just looked confused. "What valuables?"

"Everything that's not yours."

It took a moment to register. And then: " _Oi_ , Teme! I do too have valuable things! Have you not _seen_ my ramen-eating-contest trophy!?"

Sakura just continued to pet Blue, who was all too happy to receive the attention.

* * *

Because Sakura was not the clubbing type, she did not know what to wear, and because she did not know what to wear, Sakura called Ino, who always knew what to wear.

"You know that cute silver top? The one with the V-neck and quarter sleeves? Put that with those white skinny jeans and the black, strappy kitten heels."

"Uh . . ."

It was somewhat sad that Ino knew her closet better than Sakura knew it.

"Top left, bottom right next to the jean pile. Come on, Forehead. And, oh, wear that silver necklace I got you too . . . you know, the long sparkly chain with the angel pendant?"

"Um . . ."

"Your dresser, top drawer."

She looked. "Oh, that one."

"Yes, that one. Put it on. And, yes, you _do_ have to wear the heels. They're tiny, so not even you should trip in them."

"Oh, shut up, Pig. I haven't tripped in heels since we were fifteen."

But even so, she put on the clothes and heels and necklace, along with her normal rings and hoop earrings, all courtesy of Ino and her insanely good style. Really, if Sakura had known this was the outcome of having her apartment flooding and losing all her clothes, she would have done it years ago.

Moving her cellphone to her other ear and keeping it there with her shoulder, Sakura tried to tug down the shirt. It was cute . . . great, even. It fit Sakura perfectly, and wasn't too tight but just right, but . . . it was short. Not showing her stomach short, but close. If she had to raise her arms, it would be a close call.

A huff on the other end of the phone. "I know that silence – what is it?"

"Um," Sakura said. "Nothing's wrong, exactly, but . . . the shirt is a little small."

"That's the point, Forehead."

"But I mean . . . my stomach might show."

"Oh, dear _god_ ," Ino groaned. "There is nothing wrong with flashing a thin, miniscule part of your stomach when you might move a certain way. You are not doing anything inappropriate, and with your stomach, you should _want_ to show it off, goddamn it!"

Sakura just blinked at the phone for a moment. "I'm wearing a tank underneath it."

A very dramatic sigh on the other end of the phone before a hasty, "Whatever, Forehead. I gotta go; I'll see you tonight. Remind those morons to dress nice . . . and by that I mean pick out what Naruto's going to wear," and the line went dead.

Despite what Sakura had said, she didn't wear the tank top underneath the silver shirt. She wasn't sure why she didn't . . . maybe Ino was finally getting to her.

About an hour before they would need to leave, Sakura grabbed Naruto and forcibly pushed him into the bathroom, yelling at him that she wasn't letting him leave the bathroom until he cleaned the paint out of his ears, and that, yes, she would be checking.

"But . . . But SAKURA-CHAANN–"

"NO. Clean yourself, dammit!"

A pitiful whine on the other side of the door. Blue trotted up to Sakura and growled at the door, letting her scratch behind his ears.

"But I can't get all of it out!"

"Should have thought of that before you and Sasuke decided to have a paint war in the kitchen."

A heavy pause. And then Naruto said, in a pleading voice, "Hey, Sakura-chan, do you think you could–?"

"I'm _not_ cleaning out your ears for you, Naruto. NOW CLEAN YOURSELF, DAMMIT."

This took approximately half an hour, in which Sakura _did_ in fact take multiple cotton swabs drenched in alcohol to Naruto's ear. Blue – ever the faithful dog – stood next to Sakura during this whole endeavor – and she did mean the _whole_ endeavor, all the way to the depths of Naruto's inner ear; good gosh, that dog was loyal – and made appropriate growling noises at Naruto every now and then when Sakura got tired of trying to make Naruto squirm with the cotton swabs for making her do this in the first place. She gave Blue an extra treat.

After that was done, Sakura scrounged through Naruto's closet until she found something not wholly made of an orange monstrosity and laid it out for him. Blue continued to trot alongside her during this whole time and even pranced out of Naruto's closet with one of his more hideous orange shirts in his mouth, growling low and tearing at it. Sakura decided he deserved another treat for that.

When she went out to the kitchen to find the glass container they'd gotten just for that purpose, Sakura found Sasuke already holding it, and she froze in the doorway so fast that Blue bumped into her legs. Then Blue – the poor dog – froze right along with her.

There was Sasuke, holding the dog treat jar in the crook of his arm, dressed all in black for the club, casually eating something light brown.

Sakura blinked.

Blue barked.

Sasuke just stared.

"Um," she started. She continued to blink, thinking that if she did it enough times this would all be a different picture. Because he couldn't _really_ be . . .

"Uh . . . Sasuke . . ." He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. Then he reached into the jar and took out another round biscuit and popped it into his mouth. And Sakura, for her part, didn't do a damn thing to stop him. Instead, she watched. And stared. "Do you know what you're eating?"

Sasuke blinked at her and looked down. "Cookies. They're not half bad." He held out the jar to her. "Want one?"

"Um . . . no . . .thanks." Took a breath. "Sasuke . . . those are the dog's treats."

Sasuke had had a hand halfway to his mouth, another dog treat in hand, and he froze.

Blue whined loudly.

Sakura walked away before she witnessed Sasuke over the sink, washing out his mouth with soap as Blue jumped on the treat Sasuke had dropped on the floor. She had another moron to deal with . . . one that she hoped didn't have non-human related food in his mouth. Really, though. She only wanted so much in life.

Naruto, for his part, was dressed when she found him, doing up the buttons on the light orange shirt she had picked out for him. At least it wasn't the neon orange he typically wore.

Seeing that her work was mostly done, Sakura went to the bathroom and got to work on her hair. This was why she started on Naruto an hour early, so she could have time after to take care of her hair, which she knew would get messed up from whatever stupidity she'd have to endure to get Naruto and Sasuke dressed appropriately.

It was only to her shoulders, so all she did was straighten it as best she could and use a bit more hairspray then she was used to. There . . . decent.

The car Sakura used as her getaway from the Uchiha mansion was parked downstairs, and Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all just used that whenever they had somewhere to go together. They all had cars themselves but . . . this one was the favorite. Sakura could honestly say she enjoyed driving it more than she probably should. When Sasuke had noticed her love of the car, he had just smirked and offered to buy her one of her own, to which she smacked him upside the head and told him that was ridiculous. She had even grinned devilishly at him. She would just steal his whenever she wanted to race.

This time, Sakura let Sasuke drive. She kind of hated how he drove – one hand on the consul between the driver's and passenger's seat, the other casually thrown over the top of the steering wheel, his wrist doing everything for him. His legs were too long, too. Nothing like her short little legs that she had to push the seat up just to reach the peddles. Ridiculous.

The club was a few streets over from the main part of campus, not situated in the best part of town but not the worst, either. Even if it had been in the worst part of town it wouldn't surprise Sakura – Ino and Karin wouldn't think twice about walking around the street, half-drunk and wobbling in their six inch heels. Gangbangers on the corners wouldn't have even crossed their radar.

Not that it particularly worried Sakura – Ino and Karin could take care of themselves.

There weren't many – if any – places to park, but eventually and after the fifth time they circled the place, Sasuke got fed up, cursed, and parked in what Sakura thought was an illegal spot between another car and a streetlamp. The fit was just tight enough that Sakura was almost positive it wasn't meant to be an actual spot, but with the amount of menace radiating off Sasuke right then, she wasn't going to question it. Few things could piss the boy off as much as bad drivers and nonexistent parking places (well . . . and eating dog treats/cookies).

Naruto was out the door in seconds, not being one to be able to sit still for long and having been angsty ever since they circles the club looking for a place to park for the second time. Sakura and Sasuke followed behind at a much slower pace, Sasuke with his hands thrown into his pockets and back hunched in the way he did when he expected to be mauled by fangirls and Sakura with her hands twinned around the long strap of her purse, already sighing at how she expected this night to go. (Meaning: Sasuke and Naruto drinking past their limit and Sakura having to stop them from doing a strip tease while Ino and Karin threw small bills at them.)

Naruto paused at the door long enough to hold it open for Sakura before he skipped into the building, which was dark and flashing. Sakura hadn't been to many clubs or bars in her life, so she didn't have much to compare it to, but from what it looked like and the kind of clientele she was seeing, Sakura would bet this was one of the nicer clubs in town. At least, that was what she was figuring from the two large bouncers at the door and the fact everyone in the club looked like they came from money. Not to mention all the furniture was leather and looked freshly bought with the large glass tables and velvet curtains she saw off to the side, for private uses.

Not everyone here was as young as she was, Sakura noted. In one of the larger private rooms in the back that had the red velvet curtain open, Sakura could make out a group of what looked like businessmen holding some kind of meeting, despite the alcoholic drinks on their tables. At least, they looked serious enough and their suits and jackets seemed newly pressed and in order, nothing like a group of work buddies going out for some fun after work that would loosen their collars and undo a button or two. No, these men were there for something else.

"Yo, Sakur _rraaaa_!"

Sakura whipped her head around and saw Ino on one of the high bar stools, waving her arms in a way similar to Naruto and Tobi, Shikamaru seated next to her and gazing down at the bar table like he would like nothing more than to lay his head down and sleep . . . or beat his head into it; whichever came first.

Karin was behind the bar, grinning at her with a towel in hand until another patron waved her down and ordered a drink. Ino pouted at that but still jumped up from her seat and practically jumped Sakura, pulling her by the arm over to where Shikamaru was still seated. He gave her a nod in greeting, to which she returned.

Ino started to jabber on about something related to how Karin got this job and how Ino found the club in the first place, and, oh, you gotta try the mango daiquiris, they're just _to_ _die_ _for_ , especially with Karin making them and adding a little something, something in them . . . but Sakura was only half listening. Something felt . . . off about this club. It didn't help that Ino had obviously had a few drinks before Sakura got there and was beginning to slur some of her words.

The obvious colors of choice for the club were red and black – red velvet curtain, red strobe lights, red bar stools; black leather couches, black glitter tables, shiny black tiles . . .

Now that she thought about it, there wasn't really any other color in the place. Even the patrons mostly wore red and black and the occasional silver or gray. It was obvious who the regulars were.

Suddenly, Ino was grabbing her face between her hands and putting something cool against her lips. Sakura made an annoyed sound and fidgeted, but Ino held tight and hissed, "Hold still." So she did.

"There," Ino cooed, obviously satisfied with her work. She held up the gold stick of lipstick she'd just smeared over her lips – it was blood red.

Ino handed her a napkin. "You know what to do."

Sakura rubbed her lips together and then smacked them to the napkin, leaving behind an imprint of her lips.

Ino grinned, all white teeth. Sakura noticed that there was some silver glitter in her lashes. "Much better."

Naruto and Sasuke had made their way over to Sakura by then, and she noticed that the club was more crowded than she first thought. Neither Naruto nor Sasuke could sit down because every bar stool was taken; Sakura wondered what Ino had threatened to keep this stool saved for her for so long.

Naruto's eyes were bouncing around the room while his goofy grin and wandering hands played with a stray napkin he found lying on the counter. But it was Sasuke who drew her attention – his hands were clenched with his arms crossed in front of him. He was leaning against the bar table, his body brushing Sakura's shoulder, a pathetic attempt to look cool and calm when he was anything but – at least in Sakura's eyes.

She tugged on his leather jacket. "Hey." He looked down at her. "What's wrong?"

Sasuke blinked at her and looked around. "Nothing," he murmured, uncrossing his legs and leaning heavier on the counter.

Sakura was about to open her mouth to push the topic, but then she heard the telltale gasp and saw the cluster of women out of the corner of her eye, blushes in full view.

Quickly, Sakura jerked hard on Sasuke's jacket. He turned to her, quick, and glared. She narrowed her eyes at him and pressed her lips together, eyes darting over to the cluster of girls and then back at him. Sasuke looked, a roundhouse gasp ensued, and he quickly turned his face the other way, a scowl on his face.

Sakura tugged on his jacket again and made him look at Naruto, who was still oblivious and eyeing up a pretty looking drink another patron had their hands wrapped around. Sasuke kicked him, and Naruto yelped, looking over to glare at the teme. Sasuke made a similar motion with his eyes that Sakura had, only he had to do it a few more times to get Naruto to understand and then look in the right direction. Naruto pivoted on his heels to look all around the club, his face contorted in confusion, until Sasuke grunted and grabbed the back of his neck, making him look at the gaggle of girls preening and blushing in their direction. A few giggled and gave timid waves. Naruto, ever the idiot, waved back. Sasuke punched him.

"Don't encourage them," Sasuke hissed. There were few things other than eating dog treats/cookies, lack of parking spaces, and fangirls that annoyed him more.

"Ah, don't be like that Sasuke-teme," Naruto yelled over the music, which wasn't that difficult of a feat. "Sakura-chan's here to scare them off, anyways."

She gave him a blank look. "And how am I supposed to do that?"

Naruto gave her a sly grin. "Just mention that you live with both of us."

Sakura scoffed and Sasuke grunted. "Dobe," he said.

"Teme!"

Ino laughed loudly from beside her, and it somewhat resembled a cat.

Finally, Karin came back and took their orders. Sakura leaned up again the bar. "Congrats on getting the job, Kar. Do you like it?"

Karin pushed her glasses up her nose and grinned at her. "It's rough, but I like it well enough. Busy, but good. The tips are very, very generous." She looked over at Sasuke and raised her eyebrow, but didn't do anything other than give him a nod. Sasuke ignored her.

Karin's relationship with Sasuke was . . . odd. It was mostly a hate/grudging understanding, but still . . . yeah, mostly hate. Sakura would even go so far as to say Karin had pleasant dreams about castrating the boy.

Hmm . . . maybe that was why she and Karin had bonded so easily; they both favored castration when it came to the moronic men around them.

At one point, Karin could have been called a fangirl of Sasuke's, but then she met him, realized he had the social skills of roadkill, somewhere in there got so fed up with him she kicked him where the sun don't shine (Sakura had no doubt he'd deserved it), and became Sakura's friend when she heard about another woman not taking any of the Uchiha's shit.

It was similar to how Sakura had come to be friends with Ino. But with Ino, she'd been friends with her for years and it was easier, simpler. With Karin, after she kicked Sasuke, Sakura had taken her and introduced her to Ino, who then eyed her up and a (somewhat) bloodthirsty competition ensued that always happened when two alpha women became friends.

Karin was not a nice girl. Neither was Ino. And (depending on who was asked), neither was Sakura. When the time called for it, at least. But out of the three of them, she was the balance.

But a funny thing happens when women become friends – it's a hate/love kind of relationship, at first. You don't trust them on principle, especially with the kind of alpha woman-ness that both Ino and Karin radiated – a result of being sought after and pretty and coming from good families.

But when it does _click_ , when women get past that point and trust each other, it's unequable. It didn't hurt that Sakura wasn't like Ino and gave other possible friends the fifth degree. She was wary for good reasons and guarded. But if Sakura liked someone, Ino liked someone. It was just like that.

There was nothing like the kind of pain a woman can inflict on another woman. It's not like the heartbreak of a first love or the kind of jealousy that comes from lost family, but an all-consuming flame when a friend does something to hurt another friend, because no one ever warns a girl to guard her heart against other girls. No one ever warns a girl to hide the heart on her sleeve from another girl, but the truth was that the kind of all-consuming friendship girls can have can hurt much worse than a broken heart from a boy. Girls were all pretty white teeth and sharply filed nails that work so much better to gouge out hearts.

Now, Ino, Karin, and Sakura got along perfectly. They screwed up, sure, but they never really lied to each other. They never backstabbed each other. There were the times, of course, when they might keep secrets and hurt each other without meaning to, but Sakura really wasn't one to hold grudges, and would roll her eyes and tell them that if they didn't hurt each other every now and again, then they weren't as close to begin with, and so what? Because if they held everything they ever did to each other and marked tallies all the time, they would never actually have time to be friends.

It was a funny thing. Sakura's friendship with Naruto and Sasuke was unequable, but so was her friendship with Ino and Karin. Yet she couldn't really compare them.

Her friendship with Naruto and Sasuke was like something that was always meant to be. Like the moment they met each other it was just going to happen, despite their being idiots and Sakura wanting to strangle them eighty-three percent of the time. But her relationship with Ino and Karin was a bit more difficult than that, and they had to work for it, but it was still as strong.

With girls, it's all glitter-lashes and blood red lips and clasped hands and bathroom breaks and shoulder's to cry on and wearing hearts on cheeks, because sleeves were too messy.

With boys, it's all sarcastic remarks and slaps to the backs of their heads and shoulder's brushing and paint wars and blue dogs and a warm shoulder to cry on, because there was something so comforting about getting wrapped up in arms bigger than yours and forgetting about hearts on cheeks and sleeves.

At least, that was what it was like for her.

Sakura elbowed Sasuke, hard. He had to bite back the yelp. Karin laughed and gave Sakura another grin. "I'm a little surprised you came, actually."

"Why's that?"

Karin gave her an odd look. "Well, because of who owns the club, of course."

Sakura just smiled and shook her head. "I don't know who owns it. Why would I?"

Karin just grinned wider and cleaned out a glass with a rag. "Never mind, then." And she walked off, laughing under the breath, to refill another man's glass. He gave her a sultry wink when she came over, and if possible, she showed more teeth.

Ino scoffed. "Kar's going to get so many tips from doing that." And she knocked back another shot. Sakura did not bother to ask what " _that_ " was specific to.

Sakura turned to her. "Who owns the bar?"

Ino shrugged. "Hell if I know. And who cares? It's sure nice enough." She waved her hand around at the place.

Sakura nodded, distracted. She was keeping an eye on Sasuke and Naruto, both of which had inched closer to her as the night went on, losing ground to the gathering fangirls.

Suddenly, Sasuke grabbed Sakura by the shoulder and tugged her closer to his chest, dipping his head down to give her a light kiss on the cheek closest to the crowd. A few mutters and disponed sounds where heard, but Sakura was too busy grinding her heel into Sasuke's foot to really notice.

Behind her, Sakura heard a mumbled, "So troublesome."

Sasuke bit his lip to keep back the gasp of pain. Sakura finally let up and growled at him over the rim of her glass, "Get someone else to be your excuse."

"Ah, but Sakura-chan," Naruto yelled, peeking over Sasuke's shoulder, "girls will leave us alone if they think we're taken."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. "Then actually get yourself taken." She took another sip, but kept it minimal. She had an inkling that she'd be driving them home tonight.

Naruto stuck his lip out. Sakura slammed her glass down on the table. "No. You already kissed me once, Naruto. _Never again_."

Silence.

Someone coughed.

And Sakura realized she had spoken louder than she needed to. And now fangirls were glaring at her.

Sakura turned her head, raised her eyebrows, and gave them all a what-the-hell-are-you-going-to-do-about-it look. Honestly, though.

Maybe she should stop nursing her drink.

Behind her, Sakura heard a giggle from Ino and a tired, "I could be sleeping right now, woman," that as most likely targeted at Ino.

Sakura's feelings exactly.

She got up and excused herself for the bathroom. Naruto and Sasuke didn't question it. She tried to rope Ino into coming with her, but Ino was already flush over the counter, resting her head in her hands and speaking with Shikamaru in hushed tones, a small smile on her lips.

Sakura half expected to be cornered by some of the fangirls, but she must have been radiating more don't-mess-with-me aura than she thought, because all the fangirls gave her a wide berth. No one touched her.

That was, until Sakura walked by one of the closed velvet curtains for the private rooms and a hand reached out and grabbed her, closing over her mouth and pulling her in before she had a chance to react.

The hand over her mouth stayed there while the other twinned around her waist, keeping her flush against a body. A nose rubbed against her ear, and she felt pointed teeth there.

"Ah, blossom-chan," a light voice said, "if we had known you would be here, we **wouldn't have had that midnight snack earlier** ," a much darker voice finished.

Sakura bit the hand covering her mouth.

A yelp and she was free, her foot coming down to hit the most sensitive part of Zetsu's foot.

She pointed accusingly at him. "What the _hell_ are you doing here?"

He chuckled at her and licked his lips. "Ah, flower-chan, don't you know?" He stood up to his full height, and it was only then that Sakura realized that he was wearing what looked like a business suit. Her head reeled at this, not comprehending.

" **The Akatsuki wanted to expand their horizons** ," Zetsu continued. "And make a little more cash. What better way to do that than through starting a night club and **preying on drunken imbeciles**."

Sakura cursed. So this was what Karin had meant. The fuckers owned the place . . . and she'd walked right into it, of her own free will.

She was an idiot.

"Of course, being the entrepreneurs they are, those **damned Uchiha's** wanted in on it too."

Oh, _god_.

A heavy hand landed on her shoulder. Sakura looked up to stare into Zetsu's odd colored eyes. He grinned at her, pointed teeth in full view. "We're sorry we didn't get to visit you much back at **those accursed Uchiha's manor** , but we had to take care of this business – you understand, flower-chan."

Ah.

He rubbed his head against her hair. Sakura punched him. He faltered.

All that was running through her head was: _Shitshitshitshitfuckshitshithollyhellshitshitfortheloveofgodthiscouldnotbehappeningshitshitthesemotherfuckersshitshitshit–_

Time to go.

Sakura turned, expecting to see the velvet red she needed to get through to go grab Naruto and Sasuke and throw them all out of this club, and then never, _ever_ come back, but instead she ran right into a wall . . . a body.

Pein.

He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her, making an iron cage around her, resting his chin on the top of her head. "So glad you could make it, Sakura-hime. This is a delightful treat, I must say. If I had known opening a night club would get you to come, I would have done it ages ago."

Fuck.

 _Red Dawn._

Akatsuki.

She really was a moron. No wonder she was living with Naruto and Sasuke now.

But what were the _effing_ chances?

Pretty damn good, apparently.

* * *

Author's Note: Well . . . that was long. Yeah, so if you just so happened to click on this story, please realize this is the sequel to another story I wrote, _Sakura's Moronic Best Friends_ , in which Sakura is kidnapped by none other than her two morons and taken to the Uchiha mansion, in which insanity and handsy Uchiha's and Akatsuki member's ensue. You can still read this without reading the first part (obviously); however, there will be references that you may not understand. So . . . yeah.

I'm both surprised and grateful for the amount of reviews I received from so many people (you know who you are) who wanted a sequel. So thank you very much for all the kind reviews. Many of you wanted more Sasori and Madara action going on . . . I think I can whip up some of that (oh, my gosh. I just had an idea that involves whip cream . . . never mind, ignore me).

So, yes, I'm so happy to finally involve both Ino and Karin (and even little doe-eyed Shika). And so Karin is a barista (just 'cause), Zetsu had been being a little sneak and working on opening the Akatsuki's new club that Sakura just so happened to stumble into, they got a doggy named Blue (because why the hell not?) who may or may not get in the way of hormonal men in the very near future (go, doggy! Protect innocent little Sakura-chan), and further chaos from the Paint War.

I haven't decided if I want this to remain a Sakuraxharem or for there to be an actual pairing at the end. Hmmm . . . just because I can't really decide who I'd want Sakura to end up with. I don't really have a favorite pairing because I like all of them. Currently, I know which ones I like the best and who may be higher up on my list, but I also really just like the idea of NarutoxSakuraxSasuke . . . not even necessarily in a romantic way, but just as all together, and throwing one of the other men in the mix complicates things. So. I don't know yet. We will see. In the meantime, this is still a Sakuraxharem.

Also, just an FYI - Karin is not an Uzumaki in my world. She is just another girl who is now good friends with Sakura. She comes from a good family, but not the Uzumaki family. Also . . . I may have to involve Kakashi somewhere in here. I have an idea, one that I'm currently laughing about because of all the utter crap I could make Kakashi do in this position I have in mind. Because why the hell not? And it's Kakashi for crying out loud . . . you can't just _not_ have Kakashi. I mean, come on now.

(Also, when I write about Naruto and Blue, I can't help thinking about Ouran High School Host Club and Tamaki and his dog. Plus Naruto fits that kind of personality type, so it works.)


	2. Chapter 2

Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

Sakura punched Pein, quick and sharp. She didn't reel back her arm – just pushed her weight into that one punch, and obviously Pein hadn't expected it, because he took a step back. A chuckle reverberated through his chest in the next second, though, so Sakura didn't feel all that good about it for long.

His hands were covering his abdomen, and Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. "What are you doing here, Pein?"

He pinned her with his grey ringed eyes. "Waiting for you, angel. Obviously. I'm quite the lucky man, too, since I found you first."

Sakura felt her lip curl back. "Actually, I believe Zetsu found me first."

She tossed a quick glance to where Zetsu had been, but he was gone, molding back into dust and shadow like he was so good at. Well, then.

Sakura wasn't sure if he left because he just got tired of the company or if because Pein intimidated him. Or maybe the light just blinded and burned him. Could be either, really.

Sakura was quick about not keeping her eyes off Pein for long, though. She stood straighter and crossed her arms, suddenly conscious of the too-short shirt (in her opinion, though it still wasn't showing any skin) and her kitten heels, which would make it a little more difficult to run in, but would hurt like hell if she decided to kick him. She'd run in heels before – on numerous occasions, actually – so she wasn't too worried about that.

Pein crossed the last bit of space between them, and Sakura forced herself to not take a step back. Give the man an inch, and he'll take a mile.

His long, thin fingers curled around her chin, making her look up into his strange eyes again, and Sakura found the man grinning down at her, white teeth flashing. Unconsciously, Sakura's mind flashed back to the feel of his tongue – his tongue _rin_ g, to be exact – on her skin.

Although Sakura knew she could always blame it on the red lighting, she forced herself to not blush and to swallow down some of her racing pulse, breathing deep through her nose and getting a large whiff of Pein's cologne in the process. Damn.

Sakura pressed her lips together and ran her own tongue over the top of her teeth. She found herself with a suddenly animalistic desire to bite him . . . and not in a good way. Maybe it was the close courters; maybe it was the way he was looking down at her – because he still towered over her, even with her heels on – that made her feel like an animal being cornered and pinned to her cage, but she want him to back the _fuck_ up.

Something hot and tight coiled in her stomach, and Sakura couldn't tell if it was desire or if she was going to be sick, so she decided to go ahead and put those cute kitten heels to use.

It was Pein's own fault, really. He really shouldn't have gotten so close to her and given her the perfect opportunity to shoot a well-placed blow to the center of his foot.

He saw it coming a split second before she hit him, but he wasn't quick enough to dodge it completely, so she got a moment to hit him, hard, before he got away. She got the satisfaction of seeing the split second flash of pain in his eyes before he grinned at her, ever the fast recoverer.

Pein cocked his head to the side, and Sakura saw his lip ring twitch in amusement. "You know," he began, "I didn't build this club for the chance for you to wander in – I didn't dream of it, what with your workaholic lifestyle – so imagine my surprise when I spotted a head of cherry pink hair–" he took a strand between his fingers, rubbing it against his thumb. "–walk through the door not even a month after opening. I must have the luck of a god, indeed."

Sakura pulled back, and Pein let her hair slip through his fingers easily enough. "You watched me arrive?"

"I always know who enters my domain," Pein said simply, brushing off some invisible lint from his dark top. It was only then that Sakura saw that he was wearing a black button-down tucked into black pants with an intricately made black belt adorned with metal pieces and jewels – to match his face, no doubt. He smiled at her, kindly. "But I will always know when you enter a room, my Sakura-hime."

"Uh-huh," Sakura deadpanned. She had her best do-I-look-like-I-give-a-fuck face on. "You know, that hubris of yours is going to get you in trouble one day."

Pein just chuckled good naturedly at her antics. "Well, then," he said, his voice suddenly husky and deep, his eyelids drooping to almost cover his ringed eyes, "I do hope you'll go easy on me, angel, when you give me my punishment."

Fucking masochist.

Sakura just blinked at him, giving him her best I-am-not-amused look.

She took a deep breath, letting it out with an irritated noise. "Who else is here that I need to worry about?" She pushed a hand through her hair, wishing then that she had had a few more drinks. Kami knew alcohol could make this whole endeavor so much easier.

Damn Naruto and Sasuke's drunken strip tease ways. Damn them and her good-friend-natured way.

Damn. Them.

It was in that moment Sakura came to the decision that whatever happened that night, it was all Naruto and Sasuke's fault.

How, she wasn't sure. But it was. There was a reason . . . she'd just figure it out in the morning.

But until then . . . until then she needed to grab their drunk, possibly half-dressed asses and get the fuck out of this joint before a repeat of the Uchiha mansion ensued.

Pein just smirked down at her and didn't answer.

Sakura blinked at him for a moment and rolled her eyes, walking with confident strides towards the red curtain separating her and Pein from the rest of the club. She halfway expected Pein to try to stop her, but he didn't.

Sakura dared a look over her shoulder, and saw Pein staring intently at her, his eyes moving slowly, tenderly over every. Inch. Of. Her. "Nice shoes," he remarked, smirking.

She gave a long string of curses in her head.

Damn Ino. And these heels that did wonders for her butt. _Damn. Them_.

Sakura pushed open the curtain and stepped back out into the club, which had gotten much more crowded in the time she'd been gone. Music was still blaring, but louder now, and Sakura recognized a song from Lana Del Ray, one of her favorites. It was a remix that she hadn't heard before and decided that she'd ask Karin for the version sometime later. Much later. After she got her idiots home with (most of) their clothes on. She only wanted so much in life, and that included decently dressed moronic best friends.

A round of cheers and catcalls where heard from the center of the stage, where a very large group of swooning girls were gathered, all looking up at something Sakura could not yet see. Cursing, Sakura quickly moved in the direction, vaguely remembering seeing an empty stage when she arrived with three or four dancing poles on it.

She didn't think this was the kind of place to have strippers or anything like that, but with the Akatsuki and Uchihas in charge, anything was possible. It wouldn't surprise her to find out the exotic dancers were all trained assassins or something.

However, Sakura was fully expecting to see Naruto and Sasuke up there, drunk, doing one of their legendary strip teases. She could totally envision Ino throwing small bills at them while Shikamaru attempted to rein in his girlfriend, mumbling about how troublesome she was.

A few men where conjoined with the fangirls, shouting out things and sloshing around their drinks, and Sakura wondered if they were so drunk they were mixing up Sasuke and Naruto with exotic female dancers, so drunk that all they registered was the shedding of clothes and loud noise. It wouldn't be the first time.

Sakura was silently trying to come up with plans on how she could get them down from the stage the quickest and easiest way – preferably without getting her head chopped off by one of the rabid fangirls. She knew from experience that when in such a state, Naruto and Sasuke would only listen to her, but it also depended on exactly how inebriated they were. And she wasn't sure just how long she'd been cooped up in that private room with Pein and Zetsu.

Shit.

When she rounded the corner, Sakura could only see a little ways over all the audiences' heads, enough to catch quick glimpses of bare, very _male_ arms flying around and spinning. Quickly, she elbowed a few girls out of the way, ignoring the yells directed her way and smoothly spilling this girl's drink on his guy's shoes and pants, making him yelp at the chill and move out of Sakura's way with him being none the wiser. She'd done this before.

The crowd was thicker than she had anticipated, and it took her longer to get near the stage than she would have liked. Usually, she could stop Naruto and Sasuke before they took off more than their shirts, but after all this lost time, she had no idea what state of undress they were in.

Finally, when Sakura was close enough to the stage, she gripped the edge of it and looked up–

–right into Shisui Uchiha's face.

He was already grinning, but when he saw her face, a look of surprise and confusion crossed it, but then he blinked, and his grin widened.

"Sakkkuurraaa-chhhaaannn _, babbbyyyyy_ ," he slurred.

Oh, fuck.

Sakura spun on her heel and began to push her way through the throng of girls gathered with renewed passion.

The girls were unmoving; some looking to Shisui and back at Sakura, like they didn't understand what was happening and why he had singled her out. Others only had eyes for Shisui and ignored Sakura altogether.

BUT THEY STILL WEREN'T FUCKING MOVING.

A hand gripped the back of her shirt and tugged her closer to the stage, which wasn't all that difficult considering the girls in front of her were still not moving and she hadn't even put a foot of space between her and the stage.

She swung around and came face-to-face with Shisui, who had the biggest grin on his face and was kneeling down to her level, so they were eye-to-eye, and it was only then that she realized Shisui did not, in fact, have a shirt on, and his skin was glistening with sweat. A tie was loosely hanging from his neck, and on his head was a police officer's cap.

Sakura's eyes kept skipping over his face and other features, not sure were to focus on that wouldn't make her feel like passing out, and – to her horror – Sakura saw that he was wearing dark jeans and they were unbuttoned at the top, hanging down enough that Sakura could see a thin strip of his dark navy boxers.

 _Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuckity fuckfuck_ –

" _Babbbyyy_ ," Shisui said, his face only a few inches from her nose, and Sakura got a face full of minty breath and something sweet underneath it – alcohol. His hair was shorter since the last time she saw him at the Uchiha mansion, but it still grazed the tops of his ears and was sticking to spots of his skin with sweat. God help her.

Sakura was pretty sure she was gapping like a fish out of water, and that's when she noticed movement behind Shisui.

Oh, _no_.

There was Madara, on the other pole, swinging his hips around like he was half his age and Sakura felt a little like crying. He, too, was half dressed and was wearing a police uniform . . . or he at least had been; his shirt was gone and he was sliding down his pants, showing his black and red boxers underneath, much to the joy of the girls around his part of the stage.

And if Madara was on her left side and Shisui was in the middle, then who was . . . ?

Against the voice screaming in her head to punch Shisui in the face and run, _run_ like her life depended on it, Sakura slowly turned her head and looked at the right side of the stage.

And there was Tobi, waving his hands around in the air like a maniac, working that stripper pole like it was a popsicle stick he really, really wanted to lick.

Someone must have taken pity on her in the universe, because unlike Shisui and Madara, Tobi was almost fully dressed ( _thank you,_ _thank you God_ ). He was also dressed like a police officer – and somewhere in the recess of her mind, Sakura idly wondered if these were all the actual uniforms the Uchiha's all had and worked in during the day as actual, legitimate police officers – but his shirt only had the buttons undone, occasionally giving Sakura a flash of pale chest every time he moved a certain way. (To be fair, Tobi was moving so chaotically and quickly that it was difficult to catch a glimpse of anything besides a whirl of black.) The girls around him – much to Sakura's horror – were older and screamed in ways that made Sakura think they were half their actual age.

Sakura's eyes were the size of green dinner plates when she turned back to Shisui, who was looking at her slyly now.

She gulped.

Then she was in the air, and Shisui had pulled her up and onto the stage, and – _oh, god_ – she was flush with his (naked) chest, and _herbrainwasnotcomputing_.

Somewhere in the distance, Sakura heard the telltale sound of a high pitched cat-like laughter. She felt something hit her head, and turned to look over her shoulder towards the crowd.

She spotted Ino immediately, who looked to be on her tenth Jell-O shot, and poor Shikamaru, who was slowly beating his head into the table a few feet away.

Ino was pointing at Sakura and holding her stomach in pain, laughing over the music blaring in Sakura's ears.

Sakura looked down at what had hit her in the head.

Condoms.

"THAT'S MY GIRL! GET SOME STRESS RELIEF, FOREHEAD! 'BOUT DAMN TIME!"

She probably should have been surprised and somewhat concerned at the fact Ino carried condoms with her, but right then, her brain had decided to take a nice vacation to Fuji, leaving a note behind that simply read: _I pray for you, girl._

"You know," Shisui whispered hotly in her ear, and despite the fact that the music was blaring over their heads, Sakura heard him perfectly. He sounded oddly sober all of a sudden, too. "If you wanted to see me do a strip tease, all you had to do was ask."

His arms tightened around her and he kissed the shell of her ear.

It was then Madara noticed her.

"MY PRECIOUS SAKURA-CHAN," Madara kicked off the last of his pants, leaving him in nothing but his boxers, his police hat – that of which made Sakura question the rules of physics, what with how it was still hanging on to his head despite the amount and volume of his hair – and the loosely knotted tie around his neck. He flashed her a grin that was all white, white teeth. "You came to take a peek of your future husband before our wedding night, _hmm_? You little _minx_." He moved his hands in a flourish and placed one hand underneath his chin and the other on his hip, striking a pose that Sakura guessed was supposed to be seductive. "But your wish is my command, my love!"

Sakura turned wide eyes back to Shisui in horror. "What does he mean–?"

Very, very loud squeals and screams went up from the crowd of girls. Sakura decided that _nope_ , _not in this lifetime_ was she looking back to see what exactly Madara was doing, even if that meant she had to bury her face into Shisui's shoulder.

Sakura was suddenly glopped from behind, sandwiching her between the new body and Shisui's chest, much to his pleasure, based on the satisfied growl she heard reverberate through his chest.

She struggled to turn her face to the side to see who her attacker was this time.

"SAKURA-CHAN! SAKURA-CHAN CAME TO VISIT TOBI!" Half of his face was covered with a plain black mask, very _Phantom of the Opera_ -ish, masking the scars on the one side of his face. For some reason, that sent a new kind of pain through Sakura's gut, that Tobi felt the need to hide his face from this crowd. She couldn't say she blamed him for doing it, exactly, but she still felt the pain blossom in her chest at seeing it.

From the side of his face she could see, Tobi was grinning and his lone eye was dilated and moving all around at a fast pace. Sakura raised her eyebrows. "Tobi, how much have you had to drink?"

He hiccupped. "Tobi drank the apple juice Madara-san gave him!" He hiccupped again, louder. Suddenly, Tobi frowned. "It tasted strange, but Tobi is a _goooddd_ boy, so Tobi drank _allll_ of it!" he slurred.

Sakura's eye twitched.

She was going to fucking _kill_ Madara.

Shisui groaned from in front of her. She ignored him; once again hearing a wave of screams go up from the crowd at the new position Tobi put her in.

Sakura hated crowds on principle. It didn't even have to be when she was center stage – she could only stand to be in a place of a lot of people for so long – but it was so much worse when she _was_ the center of attention. If Sakura had her way, she'd be like Zetsu and mold back into shadows and walls. She _liked_ being a wallflower most of the time, thanks.

So this? This was hell for her. She could already feel her face flush and her palms start to sweat, making her want to wash her hands a few times and jump in a cold shower.

Sakura heard another loud squeal and rambunctious laughter, and thought about throwing Madara in a cold shower, too.

Shisui grunted and tried to unhinge Tobi from Sakura. Obviously this didn't work, and somehow Sakura became the rope in a tug-of-war on the stripper stage between two half-dressed Uchiha men. Lovely.

Sakura growled low in her throat and pushed both Tobi and Shisui off her. A part of her – the kind, reasonable side of her – thought about if she should try to get the Uchiha men off the stage before they did something they regretted. But knowing them, it may not even make a difference that they were in different states of inebriation – they would probably still to a strip tease while sober, for all Sakura knew.

So there she was, in the middle of the fucking stage, indecisive, because she was debating between saving her own ass and helping out the perverts around her that she may, on good days, care for them a bit.

She groaned at herself, but Shisui took her hesitation as something else, and Sakura saw his eyes flash blood red.

Shit.

Damn her conscious. She was _so_ firing it after this.

It was in that moment Sakura noticed that Shisui had a six pack and his chest was hairless. And she could see a thin happy trial tracing down into his unbuttoned pants. Sakura never thought of him as lanky as, say, Zetsu, but not as buff as someone like Hidan or Kisame. He had a good amount of meat on him, and looking at his body, Sakura had the thought that it was a runner's body. Made sense, since Shisui was one of the fastest of them all; sometimes even faster than Sakura.

The room spun.

She blamed it on the alcohol and strobe lights.

"Why are you wearing your police uniform?" Sakura questioned, cursing herself at trying to have a goddamn conversation in the middle of a stage in a club, in front of rabid fangirls who were multiplying by the minute.

Somewhere in the distance, Sakura heard the telltale scream come from Naruto and the loud sound of indignation come from Sasuke.

Huh. So they finally noticed her.

Shisui either didn't hear them or was ignoring them, because he just smirked at her. Yeah, he definitely wasn't as drunk as she initially thought he was. Instead, he grabbed her arm and tugged her closer to his naked ( _Oh, fuck fuck fuckity fuckfuck_ ) chest and began moving around her. Dancing around her. Grinding on her.

Sakura forced herself not to pass out.

She was used to being teased, flirted with, tackled, sometimes molested, and all-around grabbed and groped and kissed by these men, but she was _not_ used to being touched like this. His hands on her hips, tucking up under her shirt to graze the thin strip of skin. He didn't touch her anywhere more private, keeping to the rim of her hips and thighs, moving up to her shoulders and to the creases of her elbows, kissing the hollow of her throat and moving her palm up to his face, where he made eye-contact with her – emerald green to blood red – doing nothing more than rubbing his nose from the tip of her middle finger all the way down to the thinness of her wrist, his hot breath tracing his path. He didn't touch her anywhere that hadn't been touched before in less . . . intimate ways, but somehow Shisui made her bones creak and groan under his ministrations.

Her blood was rushing in her ears, and Sakura wasn't sure if it was because of how loud the music was and because she was slowly losing her hearing or because of Shisui's mouth on the inside of her elbow, her arm having been somehow stretched out at some point, his teeth nipping at the too sensitive skin there, making a shiver go up her spine, despite how warm she felt right then. This club was too hot for her, and she felt like she was drowning on her own oxygen.

His mouth found her ear again, and Shisui took the top part between his lips lightly, giving it a nip – and, _oh_ , she could feel his sharp incisors – before whispering, too hotly, in her ear, "There are desires in here," –his hands were at her stomach, not low enough for her to react, but tracing the delicate part of her stomach, where she was hot and tight– "and I want them out. For me, only me."

Oh, _fuck_.

He was still behind her, and he moved her arms – tenderly, so gently – up so they were tied up and around his neck, his hips still swaying against hers, and she couldn't tell if her hips were moving as well. His hands were there, on her hips, doing nothing more than tracing designs all along the fabric of her jeans, pressing hard enough for her to feel him. Him, moving up to her waist, to the strip of skin that was now there for all to see, her shirt riding up with the movement of her arms around his neck, his fingers, hooking around the belt loops of her jeans. Him, humming in her ear, something between a growl and a groan. His nose, buried in her hair, like he was looking for a needle in a haystack.

Sakura heard some more screams from below her, and it all came rushing back.

Tensing, Sakura used the leverage of her arms around Shisui's neck to flip him over her shoulder, right to the edge of the stage.

He gazed up at her, dazed, and Sakura didn't risk another glance his way.

Many, many girls and more than a few men were gazing up at her now, among them Ino, Shika, Naruto, and Sasuke, who had obviously been shouldering their way to the edge of the stage while she was otherwise . . . preoccupied.

Ino suddenly bent over, holding her stomach and laughing so hard Sakura worried she was going to make herself sick.

Obviously, Shikamaru had the same thought, because in the next second, he was there at her side, ushering her out the door of club, ignoring her swatting hands and proclamations that she was okay, she could still stay. He wasn't hearing it and nodded towards Sasuke, who nodded back. Shikamaru was taking her home.

Sakura blinked against the blinding lights and ignored Shisui's groan of pain. Madara and Tobi were nowhere to be seen.

She didn't bother with the stairs and just hopped off the stage, cursing in her head. This was where her damn conscious got her, it seemed.

Unlike before, the crowd parted for her like the Red Sea, and she walked right out. Maybe it was because of the look on her face. She still felt flushed and irritated and . . . and something else. Something she didn't feel like thinking about right then. Later, when she was sure she was sober and clear-headed.

Instead of making a bee-line for Naruto and Sasuke, who were both looking at her with varying degrees of shock, Sakura bypassed them and went straight for the dark, half-circle booth at the back corner, the one that had just enough shadow to make her realize who was sitting there, nursing a glass of brandy.

She stood a foot away from the table and slammed her hand down on it, shaking the drink on top of it. She grinned sloppily and cruelly. "Enjoy the show?"

A movement in the shadows. A soft laugh.

Itachi leaned forward and cocked an eyebrow at her, his long hair tied and brushed over his shoulder. He was dressed all in black – not surprisingly – making it that much more difficult for her to see him. If she hadn't known what to look for, she would have missed him entirely. "Not as much as you enjoyed it, I daresay."

He crossed his legs and clacked the ice in his brandy against the glass. The music was still pounding and either the crowd under the stage had dispersed or something else had come out for them to give their attention to, but Sakura could still hear Itachi perfectly. He had one of those kinds of voices where when he spoke it demanded attention, even in a place as loud as this. The vibrations of the music swam around him, parting for his voice.

"Though, you know," he continued in his lullaby voice. Sakura watched his long fingers play with the shadows around him. She could see the reflection in his narrowed red eyes, "if I had known a strip tease could get you in such a state, I confess I would have joined my cousin up there."

Sakura curled her lips back, baring her teeth. "The stage doesn't seem like your kind of place. Not with an audience."

Itachi hummed under his breath. "My cousin is more . . . attention demanding then I am, for sure."

The bastard was enjoying this. Sakura expected nothing less, but it still grated on her. She was irritated and wanted to go home, but not as much as she wanted to yell at something. Fight with something. Get this flame out of her chest.

Her mind flashed back to what Pein had once told her, back at the Uchiha mansion.

 _"_ _Even when you are calm, you have this inferno in your eyes, like you're ready for anything, like you can take and devour anything and everything, and that you won't give a damn if the whole world burns down while you do it. But the second someone you care about is hurt, it takes over, consuming you and everyone around you._

 _"_ _I want to kindle it," he had continued, "I want to kindle that fire and watch it consume_ everything _around it."_

Itachi, of course, noticed this about her. He leaned up in his seat and uncrossed his legs, his face suddenly not in shadows anymore. His eyes gleamed. "There are other ways to appease that appetite you have, you know. It can only stay shoved down for so long." He smirked and made a gesture towards the stage. "As we just saw, actually."

Sakura gave him a smirk of her own. "Throwing Shisui over my shoulder did make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside," she growled. "I should make a habit out of it, I think."

Itachi's smirk faltered and Sakura knew she won this one.

He snatched her hand, which was still on the table. She had been leaning farther and farther towards him without realizing it. Itachi brushed his thumb over the inside of her wrist, and she didn't react.

"Or," he began, making sure she was looking into his eyes, "you could come to me for some . . . _other_ ways to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside."

Sakura kept the smirk on her face. She leaned in further until she was sure Itachi could see the wicked gleam in her eyes. "Good luck with that," she purred, and it was such a stupid thing to do, but right then, she wanted to be tease. She wanted to play their game in a different way, one she didn't let herself do often, but found herself not being able to resist to tug them along sometimes. Nothing awful . . . but enough to make them suffer like they made her suffer, sometimes.

Maybe she was drunker than she originally thought. Maybe it was the lights and the adrenaline in her veins and . . . and Shisui. Yes, this was partly due to Shisui. More than partly, even. Maybe her thoughts were scattered like broken pieces of glass and she was acting oddly, boldly, but she felt like swaying her hips and throwing her shoulders back and arching her back and making him want her more than he ever wanted her before. It was cruel and it was revenge and it was dark and Sakura didn't lie to herself for one damn second about any of that.

She'd deal with her conscious later.

Sakura was not ashamed of her desires. She knew they were there, and the men around her were very, very appealing. But she wasn't _just_ desire.

She was inexperienced in these things, in these games, but she understood the rules, and Sakura was a very, very quick learner.

Itachi's eye widened and his lips parted, barely, just for a slit second, before he smirked and released her wrist, letting his fingers trail down her palm and to the tips of her fingers before leaning back into his seat. "Until then," he purred right back, and lifted his glass as if to toast her, but didn't take a sip. Instead, he watched her walk away.

Sakura swayed her hips, just a bit.

Naruto and Sasuke were on her in two seconds flat. Naruto, enraged on her behalf and tossing out apologies that he and the teme hadn't noticed her sooner, while Sasuke just glared daggers at the table his older brother was sitting in. Sakura even had to put a hand on his shoulder to keep him from stalking over there and making a scene. For a moment she thought he might shrug her off and still do just that, but he relaxed under her touch and didn't move, though his glare never wavered from where his older brother was sitting. Sakura didn't doubt Itachi was watching them and smirking, tracing the rim of his untouched brandy.

Maybe it should have flustered Sakura that she had had an audience to her and Shisui, but found that she couldn't care less. It was Naruto and Sasuke, even, and she never cared how they saw her. There was nothing she could do to make either of them see her differently.

So, instead, she waved off Naruto's apologies and smiled at him gently. She hushed him and ushered them both out the door, ignoring the stares on her back that she knew without looking were owned by not only Itachi, but the rest of the Akatsuki and Uchihas as well.

It was only as Sakura was pulling out of the illegal parking spot that she noticed the red and black fan painted on the side of the club, intertwined with a red cloud.

* * *

The next morning was . . . brutal.

The night before, Sakura had ushered Naruto and Sasuke back to their apartment, both of them in varying degrees of hungover-ness.

Apparently, both had drank copious amounts of alcohol once Sakura was out of sight, Naruto caving and ordering some very fruity and colorful drinks while Sasuke shot back Jell-O shots that Ino had coerced him into. Karin, in her devious ways, was only too happy to get him as drunk as possible. Sakura highly suspected Karin had put a date-rape drug in at least one of his drinks.

This was what happened when she wasn't chaperoning the morons.

Both had been so drunk, even, that they didn't notice at first when their growing crowd of rabid fangirls suddenly dispersed. When they did, it was only to see them all gathered around the stage and Sakura getting a personal lap dance by half-dressed police officer Shisui.

Sasuke was the first one to notice her, and when he did, he kicked Naruto, who had stolen Sakura's previously occupied bar stool and was draped over it, his head in his hands while he mumbled incoherently about _ramen, baby, why you so spicy today?_ He had been in his sad-drunk stage at that point.

When Sasuke finally got Naruto to stop crying fat tears about there not being any ramen flavored alcoholic drink – Karin had given him quite the look when he questioned her about it, to which she offered to heat up a ramen bowl and put a shot of vodka in it – and Naruto looked over at the stage, he nearly fell off the bar stool. Which wasn't much of a feat, really, in his current state.

Sasuke didn't specify to Sakura which part they witnessed with her and Shisui, and she hadn't asked. She didn't think she really wanted to know, and from the small blush on Sasuke's cheeks and the way he wouldn't met her eyes, she thought that was best.

Once Naruto's brain caught up with what he was seeing and processed it accordingly, Naruto, prone to his ways, had screamed, "HENTAI!" and then really did fall face first into the floor.

Of course he did.

Both boys had fought their way over where the stage was, but once the fangirls figured out who they were, surrounded them like the pack animals they really were. Naruto and Sasuke didn't stand a chance in getting to the stage.

After that and after Sakura finally grabbed them both by the ears and tossed them out of the club, the amount of alcohol in their blood finally caught up with them, and both promptly fell asleep in the car ride home.

Sakura was strong for her size, but getting two two-hundred and above pound men into the elevator with minimal amount of attention drawn was not an easy thing to do.

In the end, Sakura had to leave Sasuke in the car while she handled Naruto. She made sure to lock the car doors behind her in case of a rabid fangirl break in (it had happened before) and also so Sasuke didn't wake up and try to roll himself out of the car. The last thing she wanted to do at one in the morning was have to hunt down the boy.

Naruto was easier to handle than she had expected. He hung on to her, giving her most of his weight, all the way up to their door, half-asleep and murmuring about _ramen, baby_ and _Sakkuurrraaaa-chhaaannn, don't listen to the teme – orange will_ totally _match the yellow-ish carpet_. Which didn't make sense on so many levels, because, for one thing, the carpet wasn't yellow-ish. It was a tan. There was a difference.

Sakura got Naruto to the door and into his neon orange room (it was like walking into the sun) and managed to get his shoes and socks off him without too much trouble and flailing limbs. She then coerced him into shrugging out of his nice shirt and pants and putting on sweats and a T-shirt. He then promptly fell into bed, pulling on his frog sleeping cap.

Sakura didn't question it and left to get her other moron.

Sasuke – thank Kami – was still where she left him in the car. When she pulled on his arm and snapped her fingers in front of his face to get him awake, he glared at her, his dark eyes hooded and unfocused.

"Didn't know you had a thing for Uch _iihhaaa's_ , Sak _urraa_ ," he half-heartedly slurred.

Sakura ignored him.

Sasuke was more difficult. In the elevator he kept swatting at her and refusing to get up off the floor in the corner, where he had cocooned in on himself. In the end, Sakura let Blue out of apartment and made him lick Sasuke until the teme got up on his own, groaning and wiping the slobber off his face, while Sakura lead him into their apartment. Blue trotted faithfully behind them and once in the apartment again, hopped up on the sofa and curled right up, resuming the spot he'd chosen as his.

Once in Sasuke's blue and black room (which was like walking into a black hole), Sakura easily got his boots and socks off and then threw sweats and a T-shirt at him too, turning her back on him for a moment, and then turning around to see him shirtless, kicking off his pants, and Sakura had to lung forward before he slipped off his boxers too. Really, though. She only wanted so much in life, and one of those things was to not see one of her male best friends slide down his boxers while inebriated.

(In comparison to sliding down his boxers while he was sober, apparently. Really, though.)

Cursing under her breath and swearing to never let them touch another drop of alcohol again in their lives, Sakura managed to get Sasuke in bed as well (after he had hopped up suddenly, rushing to the bathroom to clean and wash his face, applying the ridiculously expensive, top of the line skin cream he used before bed for his complexion, because that was a top priority in his life).

When Sakura finally fell into bed herself, it was with a headache. After popping an Advil and showering quickly, Sakura made sure – twice – that the door was locked, and finally went to bed.

The next morning, Sakura opened her eyes to the smell of bacon, which was enough to actually get her out of bed.

Sasuke – the godsend he could sometimes be – was cooking breakfast, currently working on an omelet. He was still in the dark T-shirt and sweats she made him change into last night, though his hair was perfectly styled and teeth brushed. Naruto was nowhere to be seen, most likely not waking up for a few more hours . . . or unless they started to cook ramen; he'd wake up in five seconds flat, then.

Sasuke only gave her a side-glance, going back to flipping the omelet. He pushed the plate with the already made omelet towards her, to which Sakura thanked him and grabbed a fork and poured some milk.

Sasuke just nodded. "Hn."

Blue took up residence next to her feet, hoping and waiting for stray food to fall into his waiting mouth. Damn beggar.

Sasuke flipped his omelet onto a waiting blue paint (it matched the walls nicely) and took a seat next to Sakura. And because Sakura was still tired and had a small headache and Sasuke was simply a non-talker by nature, they ate in silence, only speaking to ask for the milk or a napkin.

Sakura had a class later that day, but Sasuke had the day off from work, as did Naruto. Hence, why they both got so drunk the night before.

After Sakura cleaned her plate and returned to her room to get dressed, her phone rang from her nightstand, playing something by Katy Perry, and Sakura immediately knew it was Karin. Ino had Taylor Swift. No, Sakura did _not_ program either of that in; this was the result she got from leaving her purse with Ino and Karin for _five flippin' seconds_ when she went to use the restroom one time. And Sakura had no clue how to change it, so it stayed.

"Kar," Sakura greeted.

"Hello, you little tease."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Did you just call to–?"

Karin interrupted. " _Maa_ , don't bite my head off, girl. I'm at the club right now and someone turned in a lost purse. A red one."

 _Oh, please no,_ Sakura prayed silently, eyes moving towards heaven. _Please, no. I'm not a bad person . . . besides the times I've let the dog into Naruto's room in the morning . . . and the times I've given both boys concussions and the times . . . Never mind. But I'm mostly an okay person, and I don't deserve this–_

Sakura could tell Karin was holding back a laugh at her expense. "And you'll never guess whose driver's license I found in the fox-themed wallet – which we really need to talk about some time."

Sakura was slowly beating her head into the wall. "It was a birthday gift from Naruto."

A loud pause. "'Kay," Karin chirped.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "It holds all my stuff nicely . . . Never mind."

Karin coughed, and Sakura swore it was a laugh she was covering up. "Anyways. It's here for you, whenever you can swing by. I'd bring it to you myself except I'm working."

Sakura sighed. "Yeah, I know. Can I just grab it after your shift–?" But her wallet held her school ID and all her money, and she actually needed to be able to get onto campus today. And eat. She needed to eat.

She cursed and rubbed a hand over her face. Of course this would happen. Because it wasn't like she didn't escape the club with barely her life. Of course there would be some improbably reason she would have to return . . .

Sakura slammed her head into the wall. Fuck.

She wouldn't put it past the bastards at the club to have taken her purse or done something to make sure she would have no choice but to return to the club as soon as possible. They knew Sakura would never return after she found out they owned the place.

Bastards.

Sly, devious, genius bastards.

Sighing, Sakura glanced at her watch. It was still early, and, honestly, she still had plenty of time to get to the club, make Karin throw it through an open window of her car while she continued to speed away, and still make it to her class on time. So this was okay. She could deal with this.

"Okay," Sakura relented. "I'll be there soon."

"Sounds good," Karin said, obviously distracted. "Gotta go." And the line went dead.

Sakura beat her forehead into the wall one more time for good measure. Somewhere in another room, Sakura heard Naruto fall out of his bed and scream. Blue scratched and whined at her door, wanting in.

So she got dressed while the dog watched her. And because she felt like it, Sakura put on makeup and one of her favorite gray dresses. And then a long black sweater over that because the weather had finally decided to become winter. After that with matching leggings and ankle boots, Sakura walked back out to the living area, Blue on her heels. She had pushed her cherry pink hair back in a gold headband, but knew she'd probably ditch it soon anyways since it made the spot behind her ears itch where it rubbed.

Sasuke was dressed and reading a newspaper on the leather couch while Naruto heated up his morning ramen in the microwave, scratching his back with both hands and sneezing.

Sakura paused before she left. She figured she should probably let them know where she was going since it was a decent probability she may get kidnapped (again).

So she gave them the spark-notes version of the story and how she had to have her purse immediately. Of course, this only resulted in both Naruto and Sasuke jumping on her.

"I'll come with you," Sasuke said, folding the newspaper he had been reading up and standing, like it was already decided.

"Yeah, Sakura-chan! You shouldn't go see those bastards after what they did to you last night!" But even as he said this, Naruto shot furtive glances at the ramen in the microwave, like he might have to decide between being a good friend and accompanying her to a wolf's den or staying and eating his ramen. Life choices. Really, it was a tough choice.

Sakura held up her hand to stop them both and snagged the keys off the counter. She was _so_ taking Sasuke's car for this. "Don't bother. It'll be fine." Both boys look unconvinced, so she struck a pose and put her hands on her hips and did her best to look down at them both, even though they both stood a good foot taller than she did. "If I can handle being at the Uchiha mansion for more than a day and stay alive, I think I can handle a quick run-in to a club. They may not even be there."

It was a blatant lie, and they all knew it.

Sasuke grunted and Naruto swung his head back around at the microwave, which had just beeped. Neither moved.

Sakura jingled the keys. "Sasuke, I'm barrowing your car. And I have my cellphone on me. It'll be fine."

Also a blatant lie.

She was just full of them this morning.

Sasuke grunted. "Hn. Have your phone turned up. I'll call you."

Sakura rolled her eyes, but she appreciated it. "Sure."

Naruto just looked back and forth between Sakura and Sasuke, like he wasn't completely sure what to do, but then he glanced back at his one true love – the cooling ramen in the microwave, and his mind was made up for him. Blue licked his hand.

Sakura turned on her heel and went down the elevator to Sasuke's car and took a deep breath.

She could do this.

She might very well get kidnapped – at the very least get molested – but she could still do this.

They might not even be there. At least some of them had to be gone, since she was sure most had been there last night and they would need time to sleep and get over their hangovers, especially if they stayed there longer than she had, which she was positive most of them had.

All at once she was glad she had picked out those little black boots – they had a little heel on the end, and Sakura just knew it would hurt like hell to get kicked with it on.

So Sakura drove the short drive to the club, and a part of her wondered if it was just a coincidence that the Akatsuki and Uchihas had just so happened to set up a club so close to where she went to school and lived. Ultimately, she chose not to think on it too much, since it would likely hurt her head and she just really didn't want to know.

When she parked (in a legal spot this time), Sakura just sat there for a minute before she picked up her phone to delay the inevitable, and called Ino.

She picked up. " _Whhhaaaaa_?"

"You sound great, Pig."

A groan and the sound of rustling sheets. "Shut up, Forehead. _Gaahhh_ , my _head_."

Sakura snickered. "I'm just calling to make sure you got home okay and aren't dead in a ditch somewhere."

"You say that like it's a possibility."

"'Cause it is. With you, at least."

Another groan. "Why the hell are you up so early?"

Sakura fidgeted. "I left my purse at the club last night."

"So?" And then much, much louder than Ino should have been able to go in her current state: "Ohmigod. You're _there_ , aren't you?" she squealed.

"Um. Sorta."

"What's ' _sorta'_?"

"I'm in the parking lot."

Another pause. "Sakura, sweetheart, love of mine . . . get your fine ass in there and then call me right back with the play-by-play, _now_."

Sakura tilted her head over the steering wheel. "It concerns me greatly at how involved you are in all this." She paused. "And how . . . enthusiastic you are."

Ino snorted. "Well, one of us has to be enthusiastic about your love life."

" _Nonexistent_ love life," Sakura corrected, smiling.

" _Soon_ ," Ino groaned, her voice deep and over dramatic. " _Soon_ , girl, that will not be the case."

"You've been saying that for the last three years."

"Well, I wouldn't have to keep saying it if you would hang up with me already and get your pink ass in there!"

Sakura cocked an eyebrow. "'Pink ass'? That's a new one."

Ino groaned again. "Give me a break. It was a long night." More rustling of sheets and the distant voice in the background, muffled, saying, " _It's too damn early, troublesome woman_."

Sakura smirked. "'Bye, Pig."

"Give my love to the red wench," Ino said, by which she meant Karin, and promptly hung up.

Sakura looked at her phone for another moment before opening a new message and added both Naruto and Sasuke to the group text.

To: Blonde Moron & Emo Moron

From: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

Message: Today. Paint bathroom #2 the green I picked up. No more Paint War or feel my wrath. Bathroom #1 will be the pink I pick up today.

Sakura sent it. Five seconds later, her phone binged.

To: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

From: Blonde Moron

Message: BUT SAKURA-CHAN. PINK IS TOO GIRLY.

To: Blonde Moron & Emo Moron

From: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

Message: NO. You get pink for painting the dog blue. Nonnegotiable.

To: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

From: Blonde Moron

Message: SAKURA-CHAN

To: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

From: Blonde Moron

Message: THAT WAS THE TEME'S FAULT

To: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

From: Blonde Moron

Message: HE'S THE ONE WHO NAMED THE DOG THE COLOR THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED

To that, Sakura simply sent back an emoji of a character with arms folded and a don't-shit-with-me look.

To: Blonde Moron & Emo Moron

From: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

Message: Don't care. It's pink. You owe me for the vases. BOTH VASES.

To: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

From: Emo Moron

Message: Hn. Whatever.

To: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

From: Emo Moron

Message: I'll call you in twenty min. Don't answer, blonde moron and I burn down club. Nonnegotiable.

Sakura's lips twitched at that and shut her screen off.

* * *

Sakura was a planner by nature. She could not physically go into a day without planning out everything. This started when she was in middle school and proclaimed one day that she was going to be a surgeon when she grew up, the mountains she'd have to leap over to do that could be damned (obviously she did not say "damned" when she was ten – instead, her exact wording was something like, "Imma be a doctor, not a quack-er!" while pushing up her sleeve and holding up her arm in a tiny fist, because that was the kind of child she was. Obviously).

Part of that dream meant she had to plan everything out. Starting when she was ten. Because she had to do research, and research meant to see really big numbers about how much college would cost, even if she went to community college for two years, even if she took online classes, and then how much medical school would cost. And then, just to make her stress levels rise to maximum heights, how much simply living would be. Electricity, water, groceries, rent, etc., etc. . . . and it just went on and on. And that wasn't even covering the things that weren't technically must-have-to-live-physically, and Sakura had another short list of things she must-have-to-remain-emotionally-and-mentally-stable, such as books. And internet. And ice cream.

Ice cream was nonnegotiable.

And then to top it all off, because public education was a money making business that made girls like Sakura have ulcers, there was the cost of renting and buying textbooks and those odd little (not so little, cost wise) copays for things around the university, such as the extra cost of being enrolled in a science lab, and for whatever reason the thousands of dollars she was already paying wasn't enough for the equipment in the labs – especially when she could never find a fucking little magnet to swirl her solution while it was heated over a Bunsen burner – making people like Sakura want to have a nice little (it would be no such thing) conversation (it would be a screaming match) with the school treasurer about where all her blood money was going. Because do you not see the grueling calluses she had on her hands and the shadows under her eyes?

And then there was buying and renting textbooks THAT SHE NEVER EVEN FUCKING OPENED BECAUSE HAVE YOU NOT HEARD OF GOOGLE? IT IS A MAGICAL THING THAT. IS. FREE. While a standard textbook cost was somewhere between three-hundred dollars to five-hundred dollars per book. Add on another two-hundred if you wanted to keep the damn thing. And, oh, you're a day late in returning the textbook before the semester ended because you needed it to cram for one of your many, many finals? That's an extra fee.

And then there were jobs, which might just be the worst part of all.

No one told Sakura how difficult it would be. No one told her that getting a minimum wage job when she was seventeen would be impossible, because no one wanted to hire someone under the age of eighteen. No one told her that.

Sakura never thought getting a job outside of the medical field would be difficult. She had to figure out for herself that all minimum wage job applications were online, and then she had to figure out how to do a damn resume even though she didn't have any previous experience. And _no one_ fucking told her how awkward and stress inducing it would be to have to start off a day driving around town, going into department stores and restaurants and all around places that she had no desire to actually work at, but needed the paper that was the goal to a decent life that was called money, asking to speak to a manager, only for the current minimum wage employee to look at her with doe eyes and who didn't know where the effing manager was even at, and so she would stand there, awkward as all hell, until the manager dined to bless her with her/his presence only to give her what-the-fuck looks when she explained that she applied online and just wanted to introduce herself, because didn't she know the application was online? _Christ._

And so her plans got hitches thrown into them, like the proverbial rock into the windshield of the car, and she could watch and see the little spider silk cracks run all around the impact zone until they grew and grew so much Sakura would either have to change the damn windshield or start to paste the cracks over with something else, something new, and all she could do was pray to god the new paste stuck and stopped anything else from ruining her fucking windshield. Which was her poor metaphor for her plan in life. Shit.

And so little Sakura realized that if she didn't start planning things out by the time she was ten, she wouldn't get far in life. She especially wouldn't get into medical school, which, by the way, she needed to start studying for, like, right now.

So when Sakura was about to walk through the doors of _Red Dawn_ , eyeing the painted Uchiha fan with the hidden cloud in the red part of it like it was a rabid dog about to bite her, she planned.

And by plan, she meant she thought about if she could successfully run into the club at top speed, call out for Karin to throw her damn purse at her and hightail it out of the joint before she was molested.

Solid.

And so Sakura did what she always did when she didn't have a very good/nonexistent plan in action – curse very colorful things in her head and get the fuck out of the situation as quickly as possible.

When she opened the door, unsurprisingly the club was all but empty, just some poor souls who were too busy taking morning shots by the bar Karin was currently wiping down. Another couple was playing foosball in the corner.

There were probably more people ( _coughpervertscough_ ) about, but Sakura just looked straight forward with her head tilted down and made a bee-line for Karin.

Karin looked up and spotted her, flashing a grin and tossing some of her long red hair out of her face. Sakura was at the bar now and was flashing her eyes from side-to-side, particularly looking out for any blurs of red and black. But due to the decoration choices of the place, that would be a little impossible to spot anyway.

Karin knelt down and picked up her little red purse. Sakura grabbed it and hummed an appreciative sound under her breath. She checked for her fox-themed wallet, seeing that all her money, credit cards, school ID, and everything else was still in there. She didn't look for anything else in her purse, since that wasn't what really mattered right then.

Karin eyed Sakura, giving her a long look up and down. "You look better than I thought you would," Karin said, blunt as ever. How she and Sasuke didn't hit it off was a mystery to Sakura sometimes. But then again, between the two of them there probably was just too much I-want-to-annihilate-the-human-race aura going around. They would fight each other over the genocide manuals.

Sakura just side-eyed her, used to it.

Karin crossed her arms and smirked. Here they go. "Especially considering the action you got last night."

To Sakura's horror, the middle aged man in the messy suit sitting at the far end of the bar looked up and gave her a too long once over. His gaze was not polite. She fought the instinct to give him the finger.

"I don't want to talk about it," Sakura hissed back at Karin, split between the urge to hightail it out of the club and maybe avoid detection, or staying a bit longer and talking to her friend. The whole reason she had come to the club last night was for Karin and her new job, and Sakura had only gotten to have a few moments of a conversation with her. Guilt ate at her chest as she gnawed on her bottom lip.

Karin gave her a glance out of the corner of her eye that could have been seen as pitying as she continued to wipe down the counter, but Sakura knew her too well for that. "Oh, sweetie, you're going to have to do better than that."

Sakura just muttered incoherently under her breath, but then stopped because that was something Sasuke would do. Next she would actually pick up one of his how-to-get-away-with-being-a-serial-killer books and read some of it.

She shuddered.

The man in the grease stained suit was still looking at her. Sakura ignored the way his thumb ran over his lips while his tongue licked it. Karin didn't and gave him the finger.

"Fucking disgusting," Karin muttered under her breath so only Sakura could hear.

Sakura loved the girl sometimes.

Karin slammed the rag down and pulled out a glass from underneath the bar. "Well, unless you want to be cornered in here by your many admirers, you probably want to beat feet and let me get back to work." She crossed one foot over the other and shifted her weight, clearly bored out of her mind. "Unless you want a drink?"

Sakura gave her a look. "It's not even noon yet. What kind of person do you take me for?" She may have said it just loud enough for the greasy suit man to overhear her.

Greasy suit man made a vulgar gesture with his hand. Both Sakura and Karin ignored him.

Sakura picked up her purse again and took a few steps back. "Well. I gotta go. See you later?"

Karin nodded, not even looking her way anymore. "I don't suppose you'll come back here anytime soon?" She looked at her and pouted.

Sakura just nodded her head, distracted. "Sure, sure. We'll see. Later." She waved and started at a fast pace towards the exit.

Unfortunately, the door was through a corridor, so Sakura kind of knew it was going to happen before it even did.

When the hand shot out and grabbed her, she just sighed and played dead like the good little possum she was while she was whisked into one of the red velvet private rooms. Really, though. This wasn't even surprising.

When Sakura was tossed into the half-circle booth and pushed back until she was boxed in by bodies, she wasn't all that surprised either.

She sighed again and turned to look at her kidnapper.

She was pulled into his lap. "Sakura-chan, my love, you came back!" Madara rubbed his face against her cheek, and Sakura grumbled under her breath and made it a priority to ask Sasuke later to borrow one of his how-to-get-away-with-killing-perverted-uncles books. Sakura knew he owned at least a few.

Sakura pushed away from Madara's chest. "Not really," she said. "Just came to pick up my purse. I left it here last night."

Someone chuckled from the other side of her, and Sakura slowly turned her head, already adorning a don't-fuck-with-me face. At this rate it would be stuck on her face forever.

"No need to be shy, you fine ass bitch," Hidan growled, pulling Sakura away from Madara. His hand inched up her thigh.

She looked at his hand and back at his grinning face. She slapped his hand away and gave him the sweetest smile she could manage. "Touch me there and I'll be sure you never get full use of that hand back."

A loud laugh reverberated through the too small room. It was then Sakura allowed herself to look around and take account of who she would have to fight her way away from, but then deflated, just a bit, because all things considered, she was very glad to see some of the other men. She might just stand a chance.

Kisame flashed his pointed teeth her way. "Good to see ya, squirt. Didn't get to say hello last night."

Kakuzu just nodded in her direction, his strange green eyes boring into her. He flicked his head Hidan's way, his arms crossed over his chest. "Want me to decapitate Hidan, just say the word. Might cost you a bit, though."

" _Oi_ , fuck-face!" Hidan yelled, and then paused, and Sakura waited patiently while his hamster wheel turned. She was pretty positive the hamster was already dead or dying. Then his face twisted, angry. "Don't charge the damn bitch!"

Sakura shot him a look. He did just realize Kakuzu offered to tear his head off, right?

"Extend that same deal with more than just Hidan and you've maybe got a deal," Sakura said to Kakuzu.

His green eyes shimmered while he smirked at her. "That would cost extra."

Sakura shrugged, good natured and enjoying the banter. "Call it an investment for my future."

Amusement crossed his eyes. If Sakura didn't know better, she would swear Kakuzu started to chuckle. But Kakuzu just simply didn't _chuckle_.

Hidan ignored him and turned back to Sakura, violet eyes mischievous. "We got quite the show last night, you fine bitch," he growled and tucked a finger under her chin, making her look up at him. "I would be a much better fucking stripper than those damn Uchihas." He wiggled his eyebrows.

Madara scoffed. "As if, peasant!" He may or may not have flipped his hair. His hair may or may not have sparkled in the light. Sakura refused to notice.

Sakura just looked blankly at him and blinked. "Somehow I think your idea would involve blood and a sacrifice."

Hidan's eyes gleamed and his grinned widened. Sakura had to fight down the shudder at the look in his eyes. "Fuck yeah, you know it bitch. All in Jashin-sama's glorious name–"

Black tape covered his mouth and his violet eyes went wide as he released Sakura and began to choke and attempt to yell. Sakura glanced to Kakuzu, who was tucking the roll of tap underneath the table. He grunted at her. "That was a freebie," he simply said. He nodded in Hidan's direction, who was flailing his arms and had turned to Kakuzu, his cursing and damnings muffled by the tape. "Useful to have tape on me."

Sakura smiled, real this time. "I don't blame you."

"Sakura, sweetheart," Itachi called from the end of the table, sitting next to Kisame. He smirked at her. "I don't believe we were finished last night."

Sakura raised her eyebrows and him and kept the smile plastered on her face. "Oh, weren't we?"

His smirk only deepened. "How much trouble did my foolish little brother cause you last night?"

Sakura rolled her eyes and huffed. "No more than I'm used to dealing with."

Itachi made a humming sound under his breath and lowered his lases. "You are quite used to taking care of my little Otto, aren't you?"

"And Naruto," Sakura added. And shrugged. "We've been together forever, so I don't mind."

"And what about after?"

Sakura just tilted her head.

"What about when you grow apart, I mean," Itachi clarified, twinning his fingers together. "What about then?"

Sakura blinked lazily at him and ran her tongue over her teeth. "Are you saying that Sasuke might _actually_ be able to meet a girl he can stand to be in the presence of for more than five seconds?" she teased. "Or Naruto could stop talking about ramen long enough to realize that he's not half bad looking, and actually take notice of the opposite sex?"

Itachi raised a delicate eyebrow. War, then. "Or when you actually start to have more than friendly feelings for a man of your choosing and having to deal with the jealous repercussions of living with your two best friends?" he shot back.

Sakura fluttered her eyelashes and entwined her fingers together as well. "Quite serious in the morning, aren't you Itachi?"

Kisame grunted and raised his drink to his lips. "Welcome to my life," he grumbled. Itachi ignored him.

Sakura stretched her back. "As fun as this has been, boys," she said, "I need to get going. I have a class later today."

"And not any classes until later tomorrow," Madara purred next to her, his hands on her waist, tracing small patterns there. Sakura didn't even think to question how he knew her school schedule. It was expected at this point. "Will you come back to the club tonight, my love?"

"We'll see," she said, and it wasn't lost on anyone that it was a blatant lie she was using just to get out of this booth quicker. She didn't really want to have to crawl under it to get out.

Unexpectedly, Madara accepted this and let her out of the booth. Sakura blinked in surprise, but wasn't going to look a horse in the mouth for this gift from god, so she scuttled out before he could change his mind.

Before she could get any further than the red curtain, though, Madara placed a heavy hand on her shoulder. "Ah," he began, and this time he looked somewhat serious. "Be careful at school today, Sakura-chan."

She just blinked at him, not really knowing what to say. Nothing was wrong with what he said, but . . . it was odd.

But she nodded anyways. Madara grinned lecherously at her and pulled her close. "Don't go and fall in love with any older professor, my love," he purred. "I'm the only mature, sophisticated man for you."

Kisame snorted into his glass at "mature" and "sophisticated" while Sakura speed-walked out the door.

* * *

Author's Note: 11,806 WORDS. GOODNESS ME, I DON'T FEEL WELL AND, OH, LOOK AT THAT, IT'S 12:39 AM. WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?

What? You thought I _wasn't_ going to write about sexy Uchihas doing a strip tease even though I put in a Akatsuki and Uchiha club? Psh, _please_.

Okay. So. Next chapter we get to see a new character (who I am _soo_ looking forward to writing about) and we get to see Sakura in school. Yay! I think the next chapter will be funnier than this one and the last one have been. Somehow this sequel is feeling more serious than _Sakura's Moronic Best Friends_.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and/or favorite this story! So I have a question for ya'll as well: Do you prefer longer chapters (around 10,000 words or so) that will take me longer to write and publish or shorter chapters (around 5,000 words or so) that would come out sooner? I can do either, but since this chapter and the last have been some of the longest I've written, I'm curious to see what ya'll prefer. This chapter didn't take me all that long to write, but if my chapters start being around 10,000 words normally, don't expect weekly updates. I'll take whatever ya'll say into consideration.

Also, feel free to recommend to me some other Sakura centric fanfics if you don't think I've heard of them. I feel like I'm getting to the point where I'm not finding anything new that I like and am just waiting for updates on stories that I already love. Ugh. This is what happens when I read this quickly. (FYI, I'm not a huge fan of SakuraxSasuke stories, because Sasuke is a little shit a good chunk of the time, and Sakura gets portrayed as weak and annoying a lot of the time. Not all times, mind you, because there are a handful of SakuraxSasuke stories I like, but not that many in comparison to other pairings. Also, canon is something that happens to other, insane people. So nope, not going there.)


	3. Chapter 3

Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

Sakura's school was large.

So large, in fact, that there was an overflow of freshman every year, another thousand or so than the previous year, and the school representatives both loved this and hated it. Loved, because this, of course, meant a larger flow of parental money and student loans. Hated it because this also meant there were never enough housing or available seats in classrooms, thus resulting in angry phone calls by too involved parents who never got the memo that Little Johnny or Missy May was an adult now, so, no, the school couldn't talk to them about these things without their child's consent. No, they could not give them the password of their child's login to view their grades and then give a little call to the professor about how they saw on that billboard for the advertisement for the university that it was a one-to-thirty professor-to-student ratio and didn't they just understand how fucking _special_ their little baby was? _Didn't they?_

And so Sakura had a hate/love relationship with it. Love, because it was her top pick when she was in high school and she ending up getting nearly a full ride to it. Hated it because it was some of the most intense and painful shit she'd ever experienced.

Sakura found that no one properly warned her – or anyone else for that matter – just how difficult and hair-pulling worthy university was. Sure, high school teachers talked about it and pushed it and gave re-tellings of their own drunken exploits, but no one ever _actually_ warned her that the most difficult part would be after the many, many college applications and recommendation letters and scholarship interviews.

Sakura liked to think that it was because everyone who had gone through it promptly chose to forget it all the second after grabbing their diploma on a fancy stage that covered the amount of tears shed in the last four years (or more) by the graduates siting in the premises.

So there she was, in the middle of her fall semester, a little over halfway done, strapping on her bag with too-heavy textbooks that would most likely give her back problems in the process of getting a degree just to study the human body (a sick twist in life, if Sakura was asked. Like, oh, study all the vertebrae in your body and now look at a diagram of what your back is _supposed_ to look like. You know, how it looked _before_ you came here and how now your back resembles something of an elderly man with arthritis).

Sakura's scholarship never covered living expenses, oddly enough, but she did get a small sum of money to herself. So she never had to play the fun game of trying to get a housing spot the spring before the school year started. Instead, she found a nice, little, cheap apartment not too far away from campus that had nice management and a little lamp she studied under that didn't give her a headache. She was content and happy with it. It was her little bubble of space where she could study and cry about the next four exams she had in one day and watch back-to-back Netflix sprees when she really should have been studying every muscle in the human body or writing that lab report.

And then it was flooded by a she-devil who enjoyed giggling far too much.

Sakura walked through an arch leading to a large green space in the middle of campus. It was middle afternoon, past lunch, and Sakura was early. But she was always early to her classes, so it didn't seem to really matter.

Even though she tried to take her time in walking there, her feet moved swiftly and quickly, a habit she had gotten over the years when she was petrified of ever being late to anything and a way to exit spaces with people quicker.

So when she sat down in the large, slanted lecture hall, a few rows back from a small group of people who were also extremely early or were straying behind after whatever class was held here before, Sakura took out her cell phone.

Which had three missed calls.

Oops.

She clicked on the MISSED CALL button and pressed REDIAL.

"HN."

Sakura's lips twitched. "So I take it you didn't burn down the club?"

"Hn. I said twenty minutes, Sakura. It's been an hour. I called. Three. Times." If Sasuke was like Naruto, he'd be screaming right now, she was sure. But he wasn't the dobe, so therefore he didn't so much as raise his voice.

Sakura winced. "I know. Sorry."

"Hn." And just like that, he was over it.

Somewhere in the background, Sakura heard, "TEME! I GOT THE LIGHTER FLUID JUST LIKE YOU SAID."

Sakura felt like laying her head down on the pull-out desk on her red cushioned chair. "Don't burn down the club, please. Then your family and the Akatsuki will never leave us alone." She shivered and lowered her voice. "And _Kakuzu_ , Sasuke. Think of what Kakuzu would do to us for making him lose all that profit."

Silence. And then: "Hn," much quieter, and Sakura knew she'd gotten him.

She heard a whacking sound and a high-pitched whine. "Teme! What you do that for!?"

"Hn."

Sakura smiled. "I'll bring home dinner." She said the name of one of their favorite restaurants by the university, a little take-out place designed for college students.

A pause. "Can you bring home that tomato dish?" Sasuke asked quietly, grumbling.

Gotcha. "Yep," Sakura chirped.

"IS THAT SAKURA-CHAN ON THE PHONE!?"

Sounds of a tussle ensued in the background. Sakura waited patiently.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Sakura had to pull the phone away from her ear. The group of students below her gave her odd glances. She ignored them. "ARE YOU BRINGING HOME FOOD?"

Sakura put the phone back to her ear, tensely. "Yeah, Naruto. I'm bring home dinner. I know your favorite."

Happy sounds ensued.

"Hey, don't touch the lighter fluid, okay?" she said (more like ordered) gently. "The last thing we need is arson charges."

Now the group of students was all out gaping at her. She continued to ignore them and pretended that talking casually about setting fire to buildings was a normal, sane conversation. Yes. Indeed. She had great friends.

"Sure, Sakura-chan! Whatever you say!"

Sakura made a pleased sound. "Okay. I'm in class, so I gotta go."

Naruto bellowed something that sounded like a form of goodbye and hung up. Sakura kept the phone to her ear a moment longer in the hopes the kids in front of her would find something else to gap openly at. She really didn't want to have to explain why she was talking about arson before her advanced anatomy class started.

More students began to trickle in and the students' attentions in front of her were diverted. Sakura slowly pulled the phone away from her ear and let go of a sigh.

Another ten minutes passed. The class was nearly full now, but Sakura had so far gotten away with not having someone sit next to her.

Sakura wasn't necessarily against someone sitting next to her – she wasn't _that_ against being in the presence of other human beings – it was just that there was that one kid, Lee, who just wouldn't take a hint. No, she did _not_ want to go on a date with him. No, that did _not_ mean she was challenging his demented ideals of "youth" and no, he would _not_ listen to her when she attempted to explain to him that his exclamations and . . . _flattery_ . . . of her "youthful appearance" and "power of youth" could be taken as . . . well, as derogatory and somewhat disturbing.

"Sakura-chan, my youthful blossom! The power of youth fits you kindly at this hour!"

Sakura pasted a shaky smile on as Rock Lee stumbled over the people already sitting in her row as they gave him evil looks. Lee practically bounced over to her and plopped down in the open seat next to hers, turning his body as much as he could in her direction. "How has my youth-filled blossom been doing, _hmm_? I have not seen you in class recently and that's not like you at all!"

She sighed. "I got sick–"

Lee gave a very dramatic gasp and took hold of her hand, his face suddenly much closer to hers. "Oh, no! My blossom has fallen prey to the sickness of the body!?" He put a hand to his forehead, very dramatic and tilted his head back. "But the power of your youth will prevail!"

Sakura blinked at him, very slowly. She gave him the kind of look she'd seen Ino give Shikamaru on numerous occasions when he refused to move from wherever he'd decided to suddenly nap – even when it was somewhere in public, like a park bench. It was the look only a girl could give a guy when she just wondered if it would be better to play dumb or grab them by the ear to whack some sense into them.

Sakura found she was adorning this look more than usual lately.

"And before that," Sakura continued, nonplussed, "I was stuck at a friend's family house during the storm. But I stayed with Ino when I was sick." She decided to leave the flooding of her apartment out of the conversation right then – it was still a sore subject.

Lee nodded sagely. "Yes, that storm was full of youth, was it not? I, myself, stayed at a friend's during this time."

Sakura bit back the smirk at this, knowing he most likely meant Neji, the cousin of her friend Hinata, and knew that this most likely meant the ever sage and stoic Neji had to lock himself in a different part of his house so as not to continuously hit the pressure point on Lee's neck to keep him passed out–

"Though I cannot remember much during this time," Lee continued, holding a hand to his chin in thought. "I must have been more tired than I had thought from my training session with the ever youthful Guy-sensei; I fell asleep moments after drinking Neji's youthful tea and slept through the whole storm."

–or drugged his tea. Really, it was a 50/50 shot either way.

"Ah," Sakura said, sagely.

They waited a few more minutes before Sakura scowled at the empty front of the classroom and checked her phone for the time. It was two minutes past the starting time.

"She's late," Sakura muttered to Lee.

"Oh!" Lee exclaimed, turned to look at her with his unblinking eyes. "I forgot to tell you! When you were out recuperating at the youthful Ino's last week, Professor Anko had some issue with the veterinarian's caged snakes and . . . well, she's not here anymore. So we have a new youthful professor." Lee's eyes suddenly gleamed, and suddenly he was no longer sitting still next to her, but standing on his seat with one leg braced on the top of the empty seat in front of him, holding fists up to the heavens. Sakura looked away and pretended to be engrossed in her notes. "The ever youthful Guy-sensei prepared me for this! But I am man enough to admit that he is not what I was expecting . . . however, the flames of youth burn brightly in his–"

It was around that point Sakura stopped listening, as did most of the class, used to this kind of thing. She looked down at her phone again, seeing that it was now almost ten minutes past the class start time. Sakura tried to remember if it was after ten or fifteen minutes when the professor didn't show up that students could freely leave without worrying about missing attendance – if the professor bothering to take it, which Professor Anko usually did. By the looks of the other anatomy students, they were also thinking along the same lines, throwing pained expressions at the door. Some kids even had a foot braced, as if ready to sprint away the second the fifteen minute mark passed.

Lee was still ranting next to her; Sakura checked her phone. Three more minutes and she was leaving. She was going to be _so_ pissed if the damn professor never showed up after she went to the wolf's den that was _Red Dawn_ just to retrieve her school ID so she could come to campus today.

She was watching the door – the only entry/exit point in the classroom – so she almost jumped in her seat when suddenly she heard a masculine voice say "Yo," from the front of the classroom.

Sakura checked her phone. It was exactly fifteen minutes past the start time. Bastard.

What was stranger was that she had been all-out glaring at the doorway, so she knew she hadn't missed him coming in. And even if she had, another student would have noticed, and Sakura knew by how everyone had jumped when he spoke that they hadn't.

That was when she looked around and saw the open window on the other side of the room. It was open when Sakura was almost positive it hadn't been when she'd first entered the room.

They were on the third story.

When she saw the new professor, Sakura had the thought that she was being punked. That Sasuke and Naruto were somehow behind this and were laughing at her right now, because there was no way in hell that this . . . shady ass looking man was a certified professor.

White hair was splayed out atop his head, leaning to one side like gravity simply didn't apply to him, and Sakura idly wondered if there was a deeper reason why he wasn't teaching physics, and if he, also, knew Madara, whose hair was equally gravity defying. She also considered how much hair gel it took for him to get that specific look, but decided she simply did not have enough brain cells to consider any of this on top of dealing with the impossibilities that were the Uchihas and the Akatsuki.

But the oddest thing about him was the black scarf. Now, Sakura loved a good scarf just as much as the next gal – more so, even – and was currently even wearing one of her own. It was just cold enough to get away with it and keep it on when inside a classroom, so it wasn't the fact that he was wearing it that was strange, but the fact that it was not only covering his neck, but was all the way up over his chin and mouth, stopping just a little over his nose but still leaving his eyes uncovered. His eye crinkle was the only indication that he was grinning at them all. He was wearing all black – soft looking black jeans, black sweater halfway tucked into it, thin black metal belt visible on one hip. His black loafers just completed his look. (Which look that exactly _was_ was still to be determined. Currently, Sakura was thinking something along the lines of half-mad, possible serial killer kind of look. Professor Anko had already been insane enough. There had been that one time she came into the classroom late with a very long, very yellow snake coiled around her neck like it was the newest fashion trend in France. Sakura wasn't completely sure if it was better or worse that the snake was dead, and had been given to the university for dissection purposes, but Anko had a perverse issue with cutting into a reptile like a snake and ended up stealing it from the lab before the dissection-course students could get their hands into it. Whatever happened to that snake was still debatable and several myths and rumors surrounded the whereabouts, that of which included that the snake was revived and slithering about campus. To that day Sakura refused to sit near any large bushes on campus.)

The new professor was leaning back while standing there in front of the classroom, almost like he was really leaning against a wall that none of them could see. Sakura wasn't sitting all that far from the front of the classroom (her personality denied her from sitting in the back and looking like she didn't care about her class all the while staying away from other human beings, but her insecurities also denied her from sitting in the front of the classroom due to being in the direct line of sight of a professor and having other students' eyes boring into her back. Therefore, she sat in the middle, usually closer to the front), so she could see that one eye was black and the other was . . . red?

Sakura felt her throat close up. Oh, Kami, please, no. No. Nuno.

She knew a Uchiha's eyes very well, and that was definitely a Uchiha eye.

Sakura didn't avert her gaze from her teacher's as she reached an arm up and unceremoniously grabbed Rock Lee's shirt and roughly tugged him back down into the seat next to her. He let out a small yelp, and Sakura leaned in to fiercely whisper into his ear, "What is his name?"

Lee gazed at her in shock, his already wide eyes going even wider. Any more growth and they may just pop right out of his head. "Professor Kakashi."

"No," Sakura growled low in her throat. "His last name. What is his _last_ name?"

"Oh," Lee muttered, looking at her in shock and curiosity. "It's–"

"Hatake-san!" a voice suddenly yelled from the doorway, and Sakura almost gave herself whiplash at how quickly she turned her head.

In the doorway was a youngish man with owlish brown eyes, one hand braced against the doorframe and one foot halfway into the classroom. His eyes darted around to the students looking at him. One of the boys who had been about to run out the door after the fifteen minute mark after class was about to start took a discrete step backwards.

"Hatake-san!" he said again, and Kakashi Hatake just blinked at him and raised a hand. He waved at him.

"Yamato-senpai," Professor Kakashi drawled, like Yamato wasn't still standing in the doorway, gaping like a fish out of water. "It's not like you to be late."

Sakura truly thought for a moment that Yamato was going to lunge at Professor Kakashi and smack him. She would have cheered for him if he had. " _Me?_ You're the one who's never on time! I've been looking everywhere for you–"

" _Maa, maa_ , Yamato-senpai. Let bygones be bygones."

"It's not a _bygone_ , because it happens _every_ day–!"

Professor Kakashi turned back to the class, ignoring him, hands pushed back into his pockets like Yamato wasn't still gaping at him and looking like he was ready to start tearing out his brown hair. Professor Yamato ran a tired hand down his face, and Sakura suddenly sympathized with him greatly, thinking about her own relationship with the morons. Maybe she'd slip him one of Sasuke's death manuals one of these days . . .

"That's Professor Yamato," Lee muttered into her ear when she threw a curious glance his way. "He's the other professor, and kind of like Professor Kakashi's helper."

As she watched Professor Yamato stumble into the classroom as Professor Kakashi looked towards the open window like he was going to jump out of it any second, Sakura idly thought that instead of _helper_ , he was actually his _babysitter_.

"Why do we have two new professors?" she asked, but even as she said it, Sakura suddenly knew it was because if Professor Yamato wasn't there to rein in Professor Kakashi and make sure he actually went to his own classes, they would have no teacher. Ever.

Rock Lee beamed at her. Sakura tried to inch back in her seat. "Professor Kakashi is a longtime friend of the youthful Guy-sensei, and I was told that he's never on time. He's always exactly fifteen minutes late, so some of the other youthful students have made it one of their many youthful challenges to be able to run out the door before he gets here."

 _Of course they did,_ Sakura thought as she watched the student who had had one foot out the door at the fifteen minute mark casually twirl his pinky in his ear, removing it and looking at it curiously before flicking it. It was wonders that he was smart enough to be pre-med.

"How does Guy-sensei know Professor Kakashi?" she asked.

Rock Lee fisted his hand and looked to be about to stand up in his seat again, if not for Sakura grabbing him by the scruff of his neck to keep him in place. "They are eternal rivals, my youthful sensei and Professor Kakashi! So far, Professor Kakashi's youthfulness has kept him ahead of my sensei, but not for long! I have made it my sole purpose in life to youthfully watch over Professor Kakashi and wait stealth-fully for his weaknesses! Guy-sensei will be the most youthful beast of Konoha University!"

Guy-sensei – Professor Guy to Sakura and almost everyone else, though he had asked Sakura several times to refer to him as either Guy-sensei or "the green beast" or "the youthful beast" – was another professor at the university, though he taught some self-defense courses that Rock Lee was involved in. Sakura had taken one of his beginner courses her freshman year for some variety, but quickly discovered that while she was in shape and had a healthy love of sparring and self-defense, her enthusiasm was nothing compared to Professor Guy's, and he somewhat creeped her out. Either way, he was one hell of a fighter, and therefore he had her respect.

Class continued. But for the hour she sat there, it became abundantly clear that Professor Yamato was going to be the reason she passed this course, because while Professor Kakashi still stood up there (well, he stood for about two minutes after class started until he got bored, threw one last glance towards the open window and sat down behind the podium) and occasionally threw out passing remarks about some important things they should know, for the most part he kept his head between the pages of what Sakura had disturbingly figured out was an erotic adult novel while Professor Yamato ignored him completely and continued on with the lecture. From the glances Sakura threw around the room at the other students, she quickly came to the realization that they were all used to this behavior and that they had all gotten used to it in the time she'd missed.

After class was over, Sakura attempted to beat feet out of the room, only to be pulled back by one sweater covered, possible albino. She groaned internally. Lee was already gone, having beat feet after class to meet up with Professor Guy for his late afternoon training session. Even when not in his actual class, Lee was almost always training with Professor Guy.

" _Maa_ , are you a new student?" Professor Kakashi asked, his adult book nowhere in sight, and for the first time in the past hour Sakura idly wondered where he had hidden it, since she never saw him carrying any kind of bag or briefcase, and his clothes weren't baggy enough to be able to completely hide the shape of it.

"No," she said, turning back to him. Professor Yamato was behind Professor Kakashi, speaking to anther straying student, eyeing both her and Professor Kakashi wearily. It may have just been her imagination, but Sakura thought that it was possible he was mouthing at her the words, _Run while you still can_.

Huh.

"I was gone for a little while due to an illness," Sakura continued, trying not to all-out stare at his one red eye that still looked too much like an Uchiha's eye. "But I've kept up with the course work in the meantime."

He gave her an eye crinkle. "I hope it was nothing serious."

Sakura waved her hand in a nonchalant manner. "Oh, no. Just a bit of the flu. I'm fine now."

"Glad to hear it," Professor Kakashi said, still staring intently at her. Sakura just waited for him to ask the question. He reached up to scratch the side of his face. "If you don't mind my asking . . ."

"It's my natural hair color," Sakura said. She never understood why people said something like _"If you don't mind my asking . . ."_ , because even if she did, in fact, mind, it wouldn't matter. They still expected an answer.

She got that question a lot, and anymore she just knew the signs for someone who wanted to ask her, because they typically looked at her pink eyebrows and hair roots. Teachers in high school were typically even more interested because they were never sure if they should be asking her to not dye her hair anymore. If she wasn't the kind of overachieving and all around suck-up to teachers like she was, Sakura highly suspected she would be getting more remarks about it and no one would believe her when she said it was natural. But when a straight "A" student has had the same shade of pink hair and eyebrows since freshman year with never any sign of darker roots coming in, most just turned a blind eye to it.

Sakura thought about asking about Professor Kakashi's scarf since he'd asked about her hair, but after another moment of looking at him, decided she just didn't want to know. She highly suspected the question would go unanswered and it just wasn't worth the trouble.

"Ah," Professor Kakashi said, nodding. He accepted her truth naturally enough. Sakura saw Professor Yamato out of the corner of her eye trying in vain to get away from the too-determined student, another girl in her class who looked a little too interested in the young professor.

"Well," Professor Kakashi cleared his throat, "it was nice to meet you, Haruno-san. But I better go save my colleague before he has a panic attack or is kidnapped. Again."

Sakura just continued to smile, but she wasn't completely sure if he was serious or not. It was beyond difficult to read the man, especially with the scarf covering half his face. And once more, Sakura decided not to ask. She had enough insane men in her life, thank you very much.

It was at that moment that Professor Yamato sidled up to both Sakura and Professor Kakashi, apparently not in needing of saving and having escaped the clutches of the too-enthusiastic student, who was already gone. Professor Yamato looked quickly between Professor Kakashi and Sakura a few times, and Sakura had the mental image of an owl turning its head all the way around.

" _Maa_ , Yamato-senpai, you managed to escape?"

Professor Yamato narrowed his eyes at Professor Kakashi. "Shut up." He turned his attention to Sakura, blinking a few more times rapidly. Sakura thought about explaining to him that yes, her hair color was indeed natural. But he didn't ask. "Hello. Are you a new student?"

" _Maa, maa_ , Yamato, she's been in this class." Professor Kakashi looked at her out of the corner of his eye, and Sakura again forced herself not to look directly at his red eye.

Professor Yamato went red in the face. "Oh, I'm so–"

Sakura cut him off with a wave of a hand. "Don't listen to him. I've been gone for a little while due to being sick, so this is the first day I've been in class since you two started teaching."

"But she kept up with the course load," Professor Kakashi interjected helpfully. Professor Yamato ignored him, never looking away from Sakura. She got the feeling he did that a lot.

Professor Yamato was staring at her owlishly and Professor Kakashi was still side-eying her, and Sakura decided it was time to go. She took a step back. "Well, I should get going . . . It was nice to meet you, Professor Kakashi and Professor Yamato."

"Please," Professor Kakashi interjected, and Sakura knew by his eye crinkle that he was grinning broadly. "Call me Big Daddy."

There was a loud pause.

"I . . ." Sakura started, blinking rapidly. "What?"

Professor Yamato's hand flew up to his face, and the sound of his hand hitting his face was so loud Sakura flinched. He groaned. "Ignore him. He's delusional."

"Most professors are," Sakura said instinctively, and then almost slapped a hand over her own mouth. Shit. That wasn't supposed to be said out loud. That was one of those things that she thought, but never actually said out loud. Especially to her two new professors . . . One of which had just asked her to call him by a name she highly suspected he'd read about in his adult novel.

Both Professor Kakashi and Yamato just started at her, wide-eyed, like her saying that was odder than him asking her to call him Big Daddy. Sakura took another step backwards.

Professor Kakashi leaned over to Professor Yamato like he was going to whisper into his ear, but his voice was still loud enough for Sakura to hear him. "I like this one," he murmured to Professor Yamato. "Let's keep her."

It may have just been her imagination or a side-effect of all the weirdness that had been the last five minutes, but Sakura could have sworn that Professor Kakashi's one red eye gleamed in that moment. Sakura suppressed a shiver.

It was at this point Sakura realized she'd been backtracking to the doorway, and was basically in the arch of it. She waved stupidly at them both, and quickly said, "Well. Okay. I'm gonna go now. See you."

Professor Kakashi held a hand up and wiggled his fingers at her. "See you next class, Haruno-san. I look forward to discerning if that's truly your natural hair color in the future."

Sakura turned away, but not before she missed the look of confusion, then horror of Professor Yamato's face as what he said clicked in his mind. And Sakura also wasn't fast enough getting out of earshot before she heard the sound of a loud smack and Professor Yamato's distinct voice furiously saying, "You _do not_ need to be reported for sexual harassment. _Again_."

* * *

Sakura really did try to get off campus as quickly as possible. She really did. But it was a ten to fifteen minute walk to her car and she had to pass by some of the larger buildings to get there.

She'd never had a problem before. While her university was big, oddly enough it didn't have a reputation for unsightly behavior. Sakura never really heard about muggings or other indiscretions around campus.

Off campus was another story. Her university was nice, and while the area surrounding it wasn't _horrible_ , it wasn't the nicest neighborhood either.

But she wasn't parked off-campus, but was parked in one of the university parking garages, and she'd walked there and back a dozen times over since she started school there. She didn't think about the buildings she passed – many of them were liberal arts buildings, and the odds of her ever having a class in one of them was slim to none.

She was speed-walking past one of the more elaborately designed buildings, one that Sakura couldn't remember the name of besides the fact that she'd never had a class there, and she doubted she ever would. She'd never even been inside of the building.

It was more modern than some of the other science buildings around campus, and was obviously not part of the original construction of the campus, having been built once the school began to make a name for itself and increase the number of freshman each year and the university was forced to expand outwards around town, buying up the homes and buildings surrounding it for construction.

Sakura vaguely remembered hearing something about this building being designed by some graduated architecture student. Some building had been there before, a few years ago, but there had been some kind of accident inside and the building had burned down. What that story was, exactly, Sakura couldn't remember, and there were probably about a dozen different stories about the burning building, so it was impossible to say which one would even be true.

She was thinking about the restaurant she was going to stop by on the way home, and wondering if she should call ahead and place an order for her normal order – the owner did know her, and Sakura had been forced to feed both Naruto and Sasuke from the place more than once, so her new normal order had begun to include tomato related dishes.

And then she heard the bang.

Sakura closed her eyes in mental pain and groaned internally. Something had just exploded from inside the new looking art-deco building, and her conscious said to go inside and see if someone was hurt, but her gut told her to run, run far away, because there was no way in hell she just so happened to walk by the building when something exploded. Not when Madara had made that comment at _Red Dawn_ earlier that day. There was just no way. Not with her luck.

But if she walked away, her guilt would eat at her, and she knew it. And that was probably why she was already jogging up into the building and opening the glass door. She didn't even have to think about it more than a split second and her backpack was already on the ground where she'd dropped it, not needing the extra weight.

For a moment, Sakura paused once the door swung shut behind her. No one else had been around when she heard the bang go off, since it was late on campus and very few classes were being held, and most students were either eating dinner right then or were somewhere else. And this building wasn't near the center of campus, so the sound didn't carry to many people.

No one else was inside the building hallway, but there were still classrooms to open, and there was a second story and even a basement.

There must not have been any classes in session on the main floor, at least, because Sakura didn't hear anything, nor did anyone come out of any of the classrooms to see what made the noise.

Sakura reached for her phone, already trying to remember the number for campus security and failing that, calling Sasuke, who was a cop himself and came from a heavily police related family, and would most likely be able to get to her before campus security even did.

Then there was another bang.

She dropped her phone. Sakura cursed and picked it back up, already moving down the hallway towards where she heard the noise. It was obvious it had come from the basement, and she opened the door to the stairwell.

There were light traces of smoke there, and Sakura pulled her scarf over her mouth and noise. Her eyes weren't watering yet, but she knew the deeper she went in the more smoke there would be, so she started to dial Sasuke while she could still see her phone screen.

Luckily, he and Naruto were both in her emergency contacts, and Sakura quickly punched DIAL and held the phone to her ear.

"Hn."

"I'm in one of the campus art buildings – the newer, art-deco one – near the parking garage and there was an explosion. I'm inside right now, going down to the basement and there's smoke. I don't think campus security knows about it and I can't remember their number."

There wasn't even a pause. "I'm coming." Sakura heard some scuffling on the other side and Sasuke raising his voice at someone – predictably Naruto. "What the hell are you in the building for? Get out of there."

"That's not gonna happen," Sakura said, rolling her eyes. "No one else is here, and there are likely people down in the basement. I wait, they probably die."

This time, there was a pause. And then Sasuke let out a stream of curse. "Fine," he barked. "Just keep your mouth and nose covered and stay low to the ground. Do you know exactly what building this is?"

"I don't." There hadn't been a sign outside. Sakura had looked for it.

"Don't be stupid," Sasuke said, and Sakura knew it was his version of _Be safe_ , so she took it in stride and hung up.

Sakura wasn't a martyr. She didn't have a hero complex and she really didn't want to go down to that basement, where there was likely to be a lot more smoke. She really, really didn't, but her damn conscious was driving her right then, so fuck it.

The basement was much like the main floor of the building, construction wise. Classrooms lining both sides of the hallway; at the end of it was another, large double-door, and Sakura figured that was where the smoke was coming from.

The line of smoke wasn't as thick as she originally thought it would be, and wasn't as difficult to see through or breath in. She was quick and getting down the corridor, and about three doors back from the end of it and the double-doors, Sakura heard coughing and curses flying.

Unfortunately, she recognized the voices.

"DO YOU NOT SEE THE GLORY THAT IS MY ART, DANNA? ART IS A BANG, YEAH!" Maniacal laughter ensued.

"YOU LITTLE BRAT. HOW THE HELL IS THIS CALLED ART? I CAN'T _SEE_ ANYTHING!"

Sakura considered turning around and leaving right then, calling off Sasuke and his little rescue team. She really did.

But the building was possibly on fire, and while Sakura knew both Sasori and Deidara could get out unharmed, there was a good possibility neither of them would even consider to call the fire department or campus security. And the last thing Sakura wanted was for the university to be on high alert because a pyromaniac was among them. (Even though there really was . . .)

Now that she thought about it, Sakura figured there wasn't enough smoke for the building to actually be on fire – more likely, Deidara probably just blew up one of his "art projects" again, and this was the result of that. She was worried for nothing.

Taking quick steps towards the end of the hallway and to where she heard their voices, Sakura came to be standing in the doorway, watching through the thin layer of smoke and haze as Sasori and Deidara continued to bicker about what art was or wasn't.

So Sakura just yelled, "What the hell!?" at the top of her lungs. Both men swung their heads around to greet her, taking in her furious form and the hands balled up at her sides. Her shoulders were drawn up almost to her ears, and she was beginning to shake with rage. Both Sasori and Deidara had the thought she looked like a pissed off kitten, claws sheathed and all. It was fucking adorable.

Deidara opened his mouth to say something, but Sakura didn't give him the chance. "What the hell do you two think you're doing!? I heard the bang and thought the fucking building was on fire, but what do I find? You two imbeciles bickering over your art per usual and nearly giving me a heart attack!"

"Ah, Sakura-chan," Deidara started, grinning broadly at her. "I didn't know you cared, yeah."

"About both of you? No, I don't. But I do care if one of the campus buildings burned down with people inside. You two are lucky no class is in session right now."

Sasori slouched, smirking at her. "Don't tie yourself into a knot, doll. We were careful."

Sakura was steaming. "Careful? You were being _careful_?" She threw a hand out to gesture at the smoke in the air and the black crisp on the floor between Sasori and Deidara, no doubt the remains of whatever "art project" Deidara had exploded. "How the _fuck_ is this being careful!? This whole floor is covered in smoke!" She had been keeping her scarf up over her nose and mouth that whole time, but now she thrust it down so she could yell at them both more clearly. "What the hell are you two even doing down here?"

Deidara and Sasori exchanged a glance, and Sakura didn't like it one bit. "Don't you know, Sakura-chan?" Deidara started, taking a step towards her. "Danna and I are the new 3-D design art professors, yeah."

For _fuck's_ sake.

Sakura just stared. The universe just loved to play cruel jokes on her. "Why?" she stammered. "You two are more likely to maim or blow up other people than teach them. And about _art_ of all things?"

It might make sense for them to teach art to some people, but Sakura knew better. Sasori and Deidara were more likely to brutally murder anyone who had a different idea of exactly what art was. The only reason they put up with each other and their vastly different definitions of art was because they were somewhat friends/enemies, and for some reason their relationship worked. Sometimes. It was a love/hate kind of thing. Sakura had bet money a few years ago with Naruto and Sasuke on when, exactly, one of them would kill each other. So far, they'd exceeded her expectations and the timeline she had bet for their untimely deaths.

She groaned. Sakura could already envision the disappearances of art students now. No one would ever find the bodies. Or the "lesser versions" of their art.

Sakura turned on her heel and started walking out the door, already planning to call Sasuke and tell him it was false alarm. No doubt the boy was on his way, possibly already on campus with Naruto right behind him and the full power of the Uchihas police force. Damn it all.

Today was just more trouble than it was worth.

Sakura idly heard Sasori and Deidara yelling behind her to come back, but she had already been breathing in too much smoke and who knew what else, and frankly she was hungry. She could have already been to the restaurant and on her way home by now. But what happened? _Morons happened_.

Sakura fully planned to have a little chat with the Akatsuki next time she saw them and asking (read: demanding) what new stupidity must have smacked them all upside the heads to allow people like Sasori and Deidara to become professors. Honestly, Sakura was close to calling the university and asking them if Sasori and Deidara were even certified to be professors. But that would prove nothing, since Sakura didn't doubt that the university had been . . . _coerced_ (among other things) by the Akatsuki, most likely, to hire on Sasori and Deidara to watch over her.

A hand grabbed her arm, and Sakura didn't think. Not even bothering to look to see who it was, Sakura grabbed the hand and flipped the person over her shoulder. Or, at least, she tried to. It was a testimony to how much she spared with the Akatsuki for them all to have a good understanding of her moves and how she would react in certain situations, because whoever it was who grabbed her – Sasori, she noticed, from the blur of red hair – foresaw what she was about to do and dug his heels into the ground and sideswiped her feet. It would have worked, too, if not for Sakura knowing Sasori's moves just as well as he knew hers, and caught her balance enough not to tumble to the floor.

Unfortunately, it was a move that was impossible to fully recover from, and Sakura lost a good amount of her balance, enough to makes her sway to her right. Another hand caught her other arm, balancing her. Not that she actually needed it, she told herself.

Sakura growled, " _What_ , Sasori?"

"Leaving so soon, doll-face?" he purred, looking down at her through half-lidded eyes, too close to her body, invading her personal space. And Sakura _liked_ her personal space, thanks.

She raised a delicate pink eyebrow up at him, one that personified just how many fucks she didn't give. "Considering that this floor is covered in smoke and whatever other toxins Deidara used to construct his _art_ –" no one could miss the amount of sarcasm she laced that word with, and Sakura saw Sasori's smirk grow larger from her tone, "–I think it's smart of me to get out of here now. You too, if you were smart. Sasuke and Naruto and whoever else they dragged with them when I called them earlier will be here soon, and I'd rather not have to explain to them about all this." She narrowed her eyes up at him and Deidara, who also had a large smirk on his face. Sakura wanted to smack it off him.

"You called those two morons, yeah?" Deidara asked, raising an eyebrow. "You must have been really worried, un."

She sneered at him. "Well, considering I heard an _explosion_ while I was walking by, I think my actions were justified."

"And so you decided to play hero, doll? How very much like you." Sasori tried to pull her farther back against him, and Sakura found that he had a steel-like grip on both her arms. That, paired with how he was holding her in such a way that was nearly impossible to break out of, what with how he'd made sure she was unsteady on her feet, Sasori being the one to keep her in place, put her at a distinct disadvantage. Unless she wanted to actually fight with them both, she was stuck. And she wasn't quite sure yet if that was worth the effort.

Deidara came closer and brushed a strand of her hair out of her face. Sakura forced herself not to flinch and snap at him at the contact. "Well then, I guess you've just saved both of us, doll." Sasori brushed his nose along her cheek, and Sakura was out of room to move. "We'll have to repay the favor soon. It's only fair."

"Oh, trust me," Sakura deadpanned, "had I known it was just you two in here, I wouldn't have bothered."

" _Hmm_ ," Sasori purred, low in his throat. His golden eyes gleamed through the thinning layer of haze in the air. In that moment, he reminded Sakura of the cat who got the cream. "I wouldn't mind repaying the favor, though, if it was something like . . . oh, I don't know," –he looked down at her, and Sakura couldn't read the emotions pooling in his eyes right then– "something like yours and Shisui's interaction the other night."

Sakura forced herself not to flush, and blinked lazily up at him. She didn't say anything.

Sakura peaked at Deidara, who was at her side, and like Sasori, he was frozen up. Sakura couldn't quite tell if it was jealousy or arousal or annoyance or desire that filled them both, or everything in between.

Sakura had expected her interaction with Shisui the other night to backfire with the other males at some point or another. While they all undoubtedly enjoyed seeing her up on that stage, flushed and confused and maybe a little aroused, none of them would be okay with it being Shisui who made her feel those things – besides Shisui himself, of course. It was only a matter of time before at least one of the men jumped her with jealousy and desire because of it. It was kind of like dangling a peace of raw steak in front of the starving shark.

Sasori's grip loosened on her arms just the tiniest bit – a reaction from not feeling her struggle since she had tripped into his arms, just like she'd expected and hoped he would do – and Sakura took that moment to decide that yes, it was worth the effort to get serious with them both.

Sakura moved one of her legs enough to make her weight tip over to one side. Sasori reacted without thinking, moving to catch her before she fell, and it was in that moment Sakura took the opportunity to swipe his own feet out from under him. Deidara lunged at her, and Sakura barely gave him a thought before her fist collided with his shoulder, making him release a huff of air in surprise. Sasori was on the floor, and when Sakura tried to walk away, his arm shot out to attempt to grab one of her legs, but he was only able to touch the end of her shoe, and couldn't get a hold of her.

Sakura didn't look back as she ran up the stairs and down the main hallway to the doors leading outside.

Once outside, Sakura coughed a little bit, a reaction to the clean air after being inside the smoke filled hallway. Naruto and Sasuke were on her before she could blink twice.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto grabbed her up in a hug . . . or at least tried to, because she was bent over with her hand on her throat, and Sasuke beat him to it and grabbed him by his jacket to give her some air. He looked down at her, and had Sakura not been lifelong friends with him, she would have missed the tightening of his jaw and flicker of worry in his eyes. It was that bit of emotion that Sakura knew if he got his hands on Deidara and Sasori, they'd both be dead.

The Akatsuki members were all powerhouses in their own rights, be it fighting skills or power or influence, but Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha could give any of the members a run for their money. If he was angry and determined enough, Sakura had no doubt Sasuke could ruin members like Sasori and Deidara.

Maybe it was because Sakura didn't want Sasuke to go to that trouble to get rid of them and have to deal with the effort of it all – especially since the Akatsuki wouldn't be pleased – or maybe it was simply because Sakura had come to the conclusion a long time ago that if anyone was going to get to quietly murder any of the Uchihas or Akatsuki, it was going to be her, goddamn it, but Sakura decided that she needed to tread carefully, and cool down the flame that was in Sasuke's eyes before he did something rash.

Sakura doubted any of them would find Sasori and Deidara now; they both knew how to disappear when they wanted to, and Sakura highly doubted they wanted to explain to anyone why the building was filled with smoke, least of all Sasuke and Naruto, who both looked mightily pissed off and worried about getting a call from Sakura about running into a possibly on fire building.

When she stopped coughing, Sakura asked, "Did you call–?"

"Yes," Sasuke interrupted her gruffly, looking over her shoulder at the building. "I called campus security and the fire department. They're on their way." He nodded at Naruto, who took the cue and lifted her up and off the ground before she could protest.

" _Hey_ –"

Sasuke gave her a withering glance and talked over her. "We need to get out of here before anyone else shows up. I doubt you want to explain to anyone about this, since I doubt anyone else will be found in the building."

Sakura gave a noncommittal sound. It didn't surprise her that Sasuke and Naruto had already worked out that this was undoubtedly done by the Akatsuki members who enjoyed blowing things up and bickering about art, since it was in the art building they'd just left. The boy worked fast, and Sakura idly wondered if he had given a gruff and angry call to Itachi demanding an explanation.

And he knew her well enough to know the last thing she wanted to do right then was get interrogated by campus security and fussed over by the fire department about possible smoke inhalation. It wouldn't look good that she was the only one around when the explosion went off. Not that she was particularly worried about getting blamed for it, but it was just something she didn't want to deal with.

It was enough to make her stop struggling against Naruto's hold, who just kept grinning cheekily down at her, his grip unbreakable, even to her right then. Then something occurred to her. "How did you two get here before anyone else?"

Sasuke didn't even bother to look over his shoulder when answering her, keeping his brisk pace towards the parking garage. "I may have broken some traffic laws."

Sakura blinked. "That's always nice to hear from a police officer."

"Hn."

When they got to the parking garage, Sakura reached for her keys and realized Naruto had picked up her backpack from where she'd dropped it outside the art-deco building before she'd run in. She tried to reach for it to take it from him, but he just held it out of her reach and held up her car keys, still grinning way too cheekily for her taste. "Nu-huh, Sakura-chan. No way the teme and I are letting you drive right now."

Sakura frowned. "I'm not even dizzy! You two are acting like I'm half-dead or something."

Sasuke just glared at her while Naruto continued grinning, and Sakura realized she wasn't going to win this battle. She huffed and waved Naruto towards her car.

He carried her over and dropped her in the passenger seat, moving her backpack to the back of the car. When he attempted to try to buckle her in, Sakura almost bit his hand off. Naruto backed away, hands in the air, smiling. In the next second he was in the driver's seat, and Sakura let her head fall back against the seat and prayed with every fiber of her being that Naruto didn't total her car like he'd done with his last three cars.

* * *

Author's Note: Sorry about how long it took me to finish this chapter. I have just been so unmotivated to write lately. It's awful. The one good thing is that I haven't just been working on this story, but started another Sakura centric story that will most likely be a oneshot. This one is more supernatural/fantasy where it's not set in the _Naruto_ universe but not present day or anything like that either. I got really excited when I had the idea, and just ran with it. Right now, it's currently at about 15,000 words and I'm not nearly done yet, so it will probably be a 30,000 word oneshot eventually. No idea when that one will come out for ya'll to read, though.

Thank you to everyone who has been taking to the time to read this story and it's prequel and favorite/review. If I'm taking too long to update another chapter, remember that leaving a review can get my butt in motion and helps me write. Recently I've just been busy with work and stress, and sometimes I get home and just want to read or watch something. I'm also going to back to school around the week of August 17-ish, so the amount of updates and how long each chapter will be will decrease unfortunately. I'm in my junior year of Forensic Science, so I already know it's going to be painful. (The joy.)

But seriously . . . reviewing or sending me a PM can seriously get my butt into my writing chair. I mean that.

I'm intending to add as many characters as I can handle, and this chapter has introduced Kakashi, Yamato, and Lee. More will come. I've mentioned Neji, Hinata, and Sai in previous chapters and _Sakura's Moronic Best Friends_ , and I do want them to have a place in this story. Also . . . Naruto's parents. Obviously they will be making appearances, and I'm really excited for that. Maybe some Mommy Wars with Mikoto and Kushina? Yes, please.

Not sure how I feel about Kakashi and Yamato's appearances yet. I want them both to have large parts in my story, and I felt like this chapter was kind of rushed and I had to really force myself to write it. So next time I hope will be better. It is what it is. Kakashi will be as perverted as he should be, of course.


	4. Chapter 4

Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

By the time Naruto and Sasuke got her home, Sakura was ready to kick their teeth out.

This was not unusual, all things considered. Whatever. That still didn't make her want to do it any less.

They had stopped on their way home to get dinner at the little takeout place. Sasuke was driving in front of Naruto and Sakura, so they just followed him. Naruto was diligently keeping less than two feet between Sasuke's car and the front of her car, and when a poor bastard tried to merge (read: cut-off like the little fucker he was) between Sasuke and Sakura's cars, well, Naruto wasn't having that.

At first, he laughed. And there was something to know about Naruto and his laughs: They were either the most pure and good-natured sound you ever heard and the simple sound of it could make any crappy day just a little more bearable, and then there were the few laughs of his that scared the crap out of everyone.

They weren't even necessarily evil or threatening sounding. But there was just something about them that set your teeth on edge. Something about them that drew attention and make the muscles in your back tense right up. It was the sound of someone who was so typically kind and generous and forgiving trying very hard to rein in his inner demon. And you really, _really_ didn't want to anger that inner demon. That laugh was the only warning you would get; it was the laugh of Naruto really telling you _Rethink this decision. Quickly._ Typically this kind of laugh was heard when either Sasuke or Sakura was in some kind of danger – or at least, what Naruto _perceived_ as danger.

And, apparently, some poor bastard who had likely had a long day behind a boring desk job trying to cut-off Naruto and make him lose sight of the teme's car was perceived as a threat.

Maybe it was because it was simply stupid and dangerous to try to merge between two cars that were already so close together. Maybe it was because the bastard was being rude and offensive about it, attempting to cross the lane without having the room to do so. Maybe it was just because Naruto had already heard the teme tell him earlier that day that Sakura was running into a burning building after an explosion and he was in his protective-best-friend phase, where the normal, carefree Naruto would suddenly turn into a demon shot out of hell.

Either way, Naruto made this kind of funny laugh that-was-not-really-funny-at-all-and-kind-of-terrifying-though-Sakura-would-never-admit-it and Sakura, out of instinct, closed her eyes and prayed to God.

Basically, honks were sounded. Curses were muttered. Possible skid marks were made. And one angry Uzumaki phone call was made to one perpetually angry Uchiha about _fucking bastards on the fucking road who can't effing drive and did you get his license plate number?_

Sakura, smartly, stayed out of it.

Then, when they actually got to the takeout place, there was the issue of letting Sakura come in. Sakura demanded. Naruto whined. Sasuke glared. She didn't trust them to order everything correctly (it was mainly her who would pick up food anyways) and the owner knew her and her usual order, and if she could just walk in and let him see her, they wouldn't even need to tell the owner their order. All would be well in the world that was her fucked up life.

But Sasuke and Naruto wouldn't hear of it. Apparently, she was still woozy and dizzy and they didn't trust her to use the bathroom in the restaurant by herself in fear of her passing out and hitting her head on the corner of the filthy toilet and having the awkward experience of having to break down the bathroom door in a restaurant to make sure she was still breathing and therefore the apocalypse would ensue because her pants might be down. This was their soundproof argument, of course.

Sakura almost ended up punching Sasuke after he just continued to stand there with his insufferable _Hn_ escaping his mouth every few minutes, but he was quick on his feet and caught her fist before it could properly greet his face. Too bad.

In the end, she stayed in the car. But that was only because after much demanding and foot-stomping, they told her if she stayed in the car they would buy her next $500 textbook.

But because they knew her too well, Naruto ended up staying in the car with her, chattering nonstop until Sasuke came out with bags in his hands and got into his car. By this point, Sakura had one hell of a headache. And she still had studying to do.

So no one could really blame her for wanting to kick their teeth in. _No. One_.

After dinner (where Sasuke did manage to get the correct order by telling the owner her name, smart bastard) Sakura tried to escape the dining room and Blue's frantic puppy dog eyes begging for stray pieces of food to take a shower.

(Basically, read back a few paragraphs and you will see how that played out. Again. Really, you would think the morons thought she'd never been in the bathroom by herself.)

In the end, Sakura locked them both (and the dog) out of the bathroom to take her shower. By the time she was done and was back in her bedroom, her phone was beeping with missed messages.

To: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

From: Ino Pig

Message: What's this I hear about explosion on campus?

To: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

From: Ino Pig

Message: If you're dead, does that mean I get your shoes?

To: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

From: Ino Pig

Message: Wait

To: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

From: Ino Pig

Message: That sounded bad

To: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

From: Ino Pig

Message: Actually, never mind. I just want your shoes.

And then:

To: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

From: Red Devil (aka: Karin)

Message: Goldilocks and High Redhead just walked in. Both look smug.

To: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

From: Red Devil (aka: Karin)

Message: Are you alive?

To: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

From: Red Devil (aka: Karin)

Message: If they kidnapped you again I'll go all honey badger on their asses

To: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

From: Red Devil (aka: Karin)

Message: Actually, no. I take that back. You need the sexual relief.

To: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

From: Red Devil (aka: Karin)

Message: I feel like it would be real kinky

To: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

From: Red Devil (aka: Karin)

Message: I want details. At least twelve of them

She had great friends. Really.

To: Ino Pig

From: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

Message: I can feel the love. Explosion was false alarm.

To: Red Devil (aka, Karin)

From: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

Message: TWELVE details!? Girl, you lost your mind.

To: Red Devil (aka, Karin)

From: Sakura Haruno (moron babysitter)

Message: Why honey badger?

Ino didn't text her back right away, but Karin did. It was simply a link to a YouTube video.

Sakura clicked on it and turned the volume up.

Oh.

Now she remembered.

There was pounding on her bedroom door followed by a whine that Sakura couldn't distinguish as coming from Naruto or Blue.

"SAKURA-CHAN. I HEARD VOICES."

Blue clawed at the door.

Sakura still wasn't sure if the whine was from Naruto or the dog.

She stood up and went to the door, unlocked it, and let a curious Blue waddle into her room, where he easily made himself at home on her bed and stole her favorite pillow. Selfish little mutt.

Naruto just fidgeted in the doorway, looking over her shoulder like there was going to be someone else in her room. She frowned. "Were you listening outside my door?"

He looked back at her, his blue eyes wide and pleading. " _Noooooo_. I would never do that to you, Sakura-chan!" He laughed uneasily.

She sighed and held up her phone, where the video was paused on an angry looking honey badger. "I was watching this."

Naruto's eyes – if possible – got wider. " _Ohhh_ , I remember that! _Honey badger don't give a shit_."

"Well, now you've just gone and ruined the ending." Sakura gave him her best hurt puppy dog eyes. Immediately, his tan face heated up and turned scarlet as he made sputtering noises until Sakura dropped the act and laughed.

Blue was peaking over her shoulder at the screen on her phone as well, making a comically human face at the frozen image of a pissed off honey badger eating a snake. Blue made a disgusted noise. Sakura raised an eyebrow.

There was a very girly scream from down the hallway.

Sakura almost gave herself whiplash from how fast her head spun to look in that direction, jumping to her feet and almost dropping her phone in the process, that of which was un-paused in her fumbling and had the distinct, very gay male voice coming through the speakers: " _Now, look at this. Snake's up in the tree. Honey badger don't care. Honey badger don't give a shit, it just takes what it wants_ –"

The screaming stopped. Sakura looked to Naruto, who was looking pointedly down at the floor like it was a wish-granting ramen factory.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. " _Naruto_."

He didn't look at her.

Another very feminine scream.

"What did you do?" she hissed, already thinking about how she should have taken a Xanax.

"– _the honey badger's pretty badass. They have no regard for any other animal whatsoever. Look, and it's just grunting and – eww! – eating snakes. Eww! What's that, a mouse? Aww, that's naassttyyy._ "

Pounding bare footsteps came down the hall, and Sakura just took the initiative and sat back down next to Naruto, ducking her head and reaching out to pet Blue. The dog just looked up at her and thumped his tail.

Sasuke appeared in her doorway, the only thing covering him and her naïve, innocent eyes from all this Uchiha glory a damp black towel tied around his waist. Sakura grumbled something unintelligently about _damn Uchihas_ and _couldn't bother to put on some shorts_ and _just like his perverted uncle_ and _rewrite that damn roommate agreement._

"– _the honey badgers have fairly long body, but a distinct set of broad shoulders and, you know, their skin is loose, allowing them to move about freely – they twist around–_ "

Sasuke just stood there in the doorway of her bedroom, still dripping water from his shower, looking at Naruto and Sakura and Blue all huddled together on her bed as the gay male voice came through her phone speaking of the wondering, attractive bodies of overgrown rats, also known as honey badgers. Sakura forced herself to smile and look like she didn't give a shit.

 _"_ _Now look, here's a house full of bees. You think the honey badger cares? It doesn't give a shit. It goes right into the house of bees to get some larva. How disgusting is that? It eats larva. Eww, that's so nasty–_ "

Sasuke continued glaring, so Sakura took pity on him and paused the video. She then blinked and took note of why he had been screaming in his mother's voice.

His hair – usually styled into the perfect replica of a duck butt with copious amounts of overpriced products bought from fawning gay men in salons who were all just too happy to assist Sasuke in _any way possible_ and making that explicably clear, and who spent a good hour in front of the mirror every morning applying it – was now blue.

Blue yelped.

Naruto continued to stare at the ground.

Sakura continued to not give a shit.

Sasuke was seething. His hair wasn't neon blue or anything – more of a dull shade of it. His hair was already so black that this new color wasn't immediately noticeable, especially since many of the hallway lights were off at that moment.

"Well," Sakura interjected, "looks good, Teme." She gave him a thumbs-up just to spite him.

Sasuke ignored her. He only had eyes for Naruto. " _Dobe_ ," he hissed, and Sakura immediately thought of the snake the honey badger had just been eating on her phone screen.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, finally looking up to meet Sasuke's eyes.

And it was in that moment Sakura knew without a doubt the Paint War had just reached a whole new level.

Because Naruto wasn't in the least bit ashamed or guilt-ridden. No, his normal playful blue eyes were full of nothing but cunning and revenge plans.

Why revenge plans? Because the kitchen had been painted blue.

Sakura sent a silent prayer up to the heavens.

And then Naruto grinned at Sasuke, full and wide and nothing but the kind of self-satisfaction that only cats and Ino could pull off.

Sasuke lunged at Naruto, and by proxy, lunged at Sakura. Sakura was hyper-aware in those few moments about the fact that Sasuke – her childhood friend, one of her best friends in the entire world – was only clad in a damp towel, droplets of water still hanging off his body and now blue hair.

Normally, Sakura would just jump out of the way and let Naruto and Sasuke have at it. But she now lived with them both, and if they damaged the house, well, it was _her_ house too now. So she cared.

And so before Sasuke's towel could fall off of the boy, making this situation so much more awkward (and force Sakura to force the Uchihas to give her compensation for the therapy she'd undoubtedly need thereafter), Sakura hooked Naruto around the waist and tackled him to the floor, bringing part of her bedding down with her and making Blue yelp and jump down after them, like they were all about to start having a wrestling match right there on the floor and it was only natural the dog got in on the action. Jesus.

Sasuke hit headfirst into the bed. Sakura was halfway on top of Naruto, holding him down. He may or may not have hit his head quite hard on the floor on the way down, taking his weight and Sakura's on impact, but she'd worry about that later.

(Sakura had a flashback to the Uchiha mansion and the morning she'd been there, when Naruto had been the one slamming _her_ into the bed because of a certain blob of red and black – namely, Shisui – who had attempted to also body slam into her. It seemed her life was made wholly up of being slammed and slamming into the moronic men in her life. God help her.)

Blue – the hyperactive dog he was; bless his canine heart – jumped on top of Naruto, knocking the air further out of the blonde moron. Blue licked his cheek.

Sasuke was having difficulty pushing himself up on her bed – _goddamn it_ , the emo moron was getting her bed all wet, the little imbecile – and finding purchase, and so Sakura took that moment to fling herself back up on her bed and hold him down.

And once again, Sakura found herself in the awkward situation of straddling Sasuke's chest while he was mostly naked. She idly wondered if she would have to threaten calling Itachi again as a means to get Sasuke to stop this idiocy. (Dear Kami – what was _wrong_ with her life?)

But that would likely result in having Itachi – and therefore most, if not all, of the Akatsuki and Uchihas – break down her door because all they got out of that phone call was Sakura straddling a mostly naked Sasuke Uchiha, and that simply was not acceptable in their fucked up world.

Sasuke squirmed underneath her, and Sakura had to hold his wrists down to keep him from pushing her off, all the while flinging profanities at Naruto. It was one of the few times Sakura had actually heard him raise his voice.

Sakura wondered what her neighbors must think.

"Stop, _stop_ ," Sakura grunted in between breaths. She tightened her legs around Sasuke's torso, making him look at her. She bared her teeth at him. "It has been too fucking long of a day for this shit. So calm the _fuck_ down."

Naruto was scrambling with Blue on the floor still, making irritated noises while Blue just continued to jump him and hold him down because the dog thought this was all play. Sakura whirled her head to glare down at him, waiting until Naruto locked blue eyes to green.

She narrowed her eyes. "And _you_ ," Sakura growled. Naruto visibly swallowed and went stock-still. Blue even stopped wagging his tail to look at her, wide-eyed as well as if waiting for the moment his owners killed each other. "Did you put blue dye in Sasuke's shampoo, Naruto?"

Even though she was asking him, it wasn't really a question. Anyone with a brain could plainly see that Naruto had been the one behind his prank.

Naruto swallowed again, his arms propped up behind him so he was sitting up on the floor amidst her bedsheets. "Maybe," he grumbled, which was good enough for Sakura.

Sasuke growled from underneath her, and Sakura twisted her head to give him her attention once again. She glared at him; Sasuke glared back. World War III may have been on the cusp. "I know you're pissed right now, and you have every right to be. But you cannot attack Naruto and ruin this home. Plus," she added, "it doesn't look half bad. In fact, your hair is already so dark that the blue just makes it look like a dull navy. I like it."

Sasuke blinked up at her.

After a moment, he turned his face away with his typical "Hn," and Sakura let it slide.

Slowly, Sakura began to loosen her grip on Sasuke's wrists, peeling her body off of him. "Now," she sighed, seeing that the immediate danger was over, "get out of my room. Both of you."

Both morons just looked at her.

With a huff, Sakura turned her attention to Blue, who was also just looking at her. (Shit, the dog was learning from her morons.) She narrowed her eyes at the dog. "You too," she said, to which Blue visibly deflated and let his head drop, slowly padding out of the room.

Sasuke gave an undignified huff, as if this was all below him. Sakura scowled at him, since _he_ was the one who flew himself at Naruto and was the one in the towel. Moron.

"You both have work tomorrow. Go to bed." Sakura looked at her poor bed, damp now, and sighed.

This got a reaction out of both Naruto and Sasuke, oddly enough. Sasuke looked down and Sakura would swear she saw a light blush on his cheeks. Naruto just looked away and rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling uncomfortably.

When they were gone, finally, Sakura had the task of changing her bedsheets, which no one wanted to do right before they were supposed to go to bed.

A _thump_ was heard outside her bedroom door. Blue barked.

Sakura turned off her bedroom lights and put in her new earplugs, that of which she'd purchased after the realization that she was going to live with Naruto and Sasuke kicked in, and she figured she'd need them. It was the newest addition to her _How To Deal With Morons Manuscript,_ that of which already included a pink bottle of pepper spray, a spray bottle, and neon orange duct tape.

* * *

When Sakura woke up, both Naruto and Sasuke were already gone for work, and since she did not have another class until much later that day, Sakura decided it would be a good time to go out and do some shopping, that of which would include going to the paint store.

She fully intended to still make Naruto and Sasuke paint the bathroom pink. Maybe even some hot, cherry pink. It wasn't like Naruto could put pink dye in _her_ shampoo.

The paint store was also quickly becoming her least favorite place to be. Simply because she and the two morons had been in so many times, arguing about color schemes and what would be blue and what would be orange, etc, etc, . . . that the employees were now on a first name basis with them all. And not in a good way.

So Sakura's plan was to get in and get out as quickly as possible. She lied to herself and said it was just because she still had schoolwork to do before her lab later that day. She almost believed herself.

The other reason Sakura wanted to get in and out of the paint store as quickly as possible was because it was also the place where Sai worked part-time.

"Hey, Ugly," he greeted her the moment she walked in, despite Sakura's sound plan to speed walk right through the door. Too bad.

Sakura waved a half-hearted hand to him, grimacing as he adorned that bland little fake smile. She had gotten over him calling her "Ugly" a while ago, mostly because she had caught him reading a self-help book on how to properly converse and be social with other human beings. Sai didn't know she knew about the many, many library check-outs of that genre of books, and she didn't plan to ever tell him about it. He wasn't trying to be rude – he just didn't understand that that kind of nickname wasn't the best thing to call a girl who wouldn't hesitate to smack him into next week. Which was what she did . . . a lot.

Sakura had met Sai a few years earlier, when she was just starting university. He was an art major, and a damn good one. Like Sakura, Sai had gotten a scholarship to help him get into the school and cut ties with his family, that of which was more than just a toxic relationship. He and Sakura had that in common.

Now he worked at the paint shop part-time, and had been witness to many of her and the morons' fiery arguments about paint schemes. Sai had silently watched over this all the while dropping little comments and insults just to stir the fire. It was like pouring oil on a flame.

But that was when Sakura was with the morons. When it was just her, however, things were different between them. Possibly because Sai knew Sakura first, befriended her first (well . . . Sakura befriended _him_ , actually, whether he liked it or not) and met Naruto and Sasuke through her.

When Sakura first met Sai, she had thought he would be another Sasuke. His appearance was already similar to that of a Uchiha, even though he wasn't, and with his little insults and couldn't-give-a-shit vibe, Sai was like a little Uchiha clone.

After a while, though, Sakura found herself liking Sai more and more, mostly likely because it didn't take her too long to figure out his fake persona and the mask he always wore. It took her almost a year to find out that his abusive family was the cause of that, and the emotional damage done wasn't about to leave anytime soon. And Sakura was fine with that. Kami knew she had her own familial baggage, too.

Sakura hadn't even known Sai had started working part-time in the paint store until she and the morons had wandered in one afternoon a few weeks ago, still arguing and ranting and pleading and scoffing about the other's color preferences. Sai had looked so amused, the cocky bastard.

"Buying more paint?" Sai inquired, a tilt to his head.

Sakura nodded. "I'm making the morons paint the bathroom pink." She grinned devilishly. "It's payback for screwing up the kitchen."

Sai's lips twitched, and that was as far as Sakura would get for a pleased and amused smile, one that wasn't completely fake. She would take it.

He spun on his heel and led her to the pink paint options, even though Sakura knew where it was by heart now. Hell, she could probably work at the store too; she already knew the layout and what they did and didn't have so well.

Sakura scanned the selections, pairing the paint options side-by-side, occasionally turning to Sai with a tilt of her lip while he would _yay_ or _nay_ with a twitch of his lips or a curve in his brow. She may have wanted revenge for the Paint War Naruto and Sasuke had initiated, but she would have to also see and use the pink bathroom for as long as she lived there – it still needed to be a color pink she could live with.

So no neon hot pink.

Instead, Sakura (and Sai, by proxy) decided on a soft looking pale pink, similar in color to a blouse Sakura owned. Sakura found herself actually excited for the color, even though this had all started out as a punishment for the morons.

So Sakura paid for it and was on her way out of the store when she paused, turning back around and inviting him to _Red Dawn_ one of these nights.

This was in no way a concession on her part to being around those damnable Uchihas and the Akatsuki, but just her understanding that there would likely be reasons and ways they would get her back at the nightclub. Also, Karin worked there. Ino would want to go more often than not for no reason other than that, but, also, it was a nightclub, and it was _Ino_. Let it never be said that the ponytailed blonde didn't enjoy a fun nightlife.

And so Sakura figured that if she was going to have to endure more nights at the club, then she might as well fill it with people she was comfortable with. More distractions to keep her away from those (stripper) Uchihas and Akatsuki members, anyways.

Sai just looked at her for a second, a little taken aback at her offer. But he had her cellphone number, and so Sakura promised to text him sometimes about her offer, and eventually Sai just nodded and gave her his usual fake smile. But his eyes were soft. So it was progress.

* * *

Author's Note: I'm so sorry for this poor excuse for a chapter. I'm having major writer's block, and writing anything has _not_ been easy.

However, I'm so far along in my other standalone - about 30,000+ words now. Writing it makes me happy. Which is why I'm spending not as much time on this story. Sorry about that.

Sometimes I re-read what I write, and I just wonder what the heck is wrong with me. Like, _really_ , Hannah? Honey badger? Were you high? (Though I think we can all agree that including a honey badger reference is not even close to the strangest thing I've written.)

I go back to university this Friday (well, I move in this Friday, but classes start next Monday) and so I can't really say when the next chapter will be up. I won't ever give up or just forget about this story, though. So no worries there. ;] I hate reading Fanfiction stories that I love and then I get to the tenth chapter or something and see that the author never finished it and it hasn't been updated since 2009 or something. Like, _no_ , please. That's just cruel.

So one of two things is likely to happen when my classes start: I'm either going to be updating a ton, like how it was with _Sakura's Moronic Best Friends_ near the beginning, or it's going to take me forever to update. No idea why it's either one extreme or the other, but it just is. _Meh_.

And, hey, guys . . . _Sakura's Moronic Best Friends_ hit over 200 favorites and this story hit over 100 favorites and follows . . . like, WHAT? You people actually like what I write? What the heck you wrong with you all!? (Just kidding! ;P)

So. Massive thank you for that! Like, I never expected anyone to really read any of my stories. I just starting writing my own Sakura centric stories because I got bored and I was reading a bunch of really good Sakura centric stories on this site that I got inspired. But. Wow. Thank you so much! :D


	5. Chapter 5

Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

Sakura had an advanced anatomy lab later that day, and after getting home and placing the new pink paint on the counter with a note attached to it, telling (read: ordering) both Naruto and Sasuke to paint the bathroom sometimes that day, preferably right after they got home from work, she sat down in her bedroom with a cup of green tea to go over her notes again for the pre-lab quiz they always had. Which made no sense, since they were always quizzed on topics they had never seen before right as they were getting to the lab that would go over those topics. It was a "You should know the all about the topics before you get to the class so the professor doesn't actually have to teach it" scenarios. Why, yes, Sakura and thousands of other university students were paying an insane amount of money and getting up to their ears in student loans to attend such a prestigious university.

But Sakura was a religiously good student, and the idea of ever getting anything below a "C" scared the absolute crap out of her, not to mention that she had to keep at least a 3.0 GPA to keep her scholarships. Before, when she was still in high school, the idea of getting anything below an "A" scared the crap out of her, but since getting into university her new life saying was " _Cs get degrees_."

Sakura had been studying and going over the future PowerPoint for that day and had already finished her first cup of tea when her phone buzzed with an incoming call. Blue, who was on her bed sleeping, huffed at the noise and rolled over.

When she saw who it was, she smiled and swiped her finger across the screen to answer it. "Hello?"

"Sakura, sweetheart," Kushina cooed. "I haven't gotten to see you in _ages_." There was some clanking of pots and pans in the background, which alerted Sakura to the fact that Kushina was likely going to use free food as a way to get her to visit. Smart woman. "I was just telling Minato that it's been months since you and Naruto and Sasuke have all been over for a visit. I still remember when you were all back in high school and would spend almost all your free time over here."

Sakura placed her phone between her shoulder and ear and started to close her notes and laptop. She knew if she kept it open while she tried to talk to someone on the phone she'd unintentionally start to read the words on her screen and completely doze out of the conversation at hand. "Yeah, I think we've all been pretty busy lately with the move and all, but I'll for sure make Naruto take us all over sometime soon."

Kushina's voice got all low and soft then. "Well, you don't have to come over with Naruto, Sakura, dearest. You know you're always welcome to come over by yourself anytime." More clanking of pots and pans. Scuffling sounds.

Sakura ducked her head, even though Kushina couldn't see her. "Yeah, I know. Thank you, Kushina."

"Of course, sweetheart. You know that you're practically family by this point."

Yeah, she did.

"And do you know who called me the other day? Mikoto!" Kushina scoffed. "And do you know what she told me?" She didn't wait for Sakura to reply. "She told me that you were getting close to her Uchiha boys! The gal of the woman!" Her voice rose higher and she laughed uneasily.

Sakura laughed uneasily as well. Even though Kushina and Mikoto had been best friends since they were both pregnant with Naruto and Sasuke, they had a kind of love/hate relationship. Both were incredibly competitive, whether it be about who had the best food to who had a more desirable husband to who had the more successful son.

Unfortunately, this competitiveness had included Sakura and which family she liked better.

Kushina was sure Sakura liked the Uzumakis better because she had practically lived with them during her senior year of high school when she still wasn't able to completely live on her own and be independent. Kushina and Minato had been more privy to her home situation then, Minato having stumbled upon Sakura and Naruto at one point when she had come over to visit and he had walked in on Sakura crying into Naruto's shoulder in his bedroom. Naruto had lived closer to her family home than Saauke did, and there had been many times when she knew that she had needed to get to one of them quickly, and Naruto just happened to be closer a lot of the time.

The Uzumakis had connections just as the Uchihas did, and it didn't take long for Minato to figure out what was going on. While the Uchiha family dabbled in a little bit of everything, from law enforcement to being CEOs of multi-million dollar businesses, Minato was involved in politics. At this point, Sakura couldn't really say which family was more influential or who had more money.

And Sakura's home life couldn't really be explained easily. It wasn't only one or two or even three major reasons why living there was so bad. It was a composition of thousands of little things that just made being around her parents . . . _difficult_.

They never hit her or slapped her. They never missed a PTA meeting or missed going to any of her award ceremonies. They never pushed her to be better or get better grades or make the right friends. They complimented her and seemed to love her. On the outside, they were the perfect family. They were middle class and happy, it seemed.

What people never saw, though, was that Sakura's father never stood up for Sakura when her mother would drop little catty comments about _Sakura just being so perfect_ and _didn't Sakura just understand how lucky she was to have parents as great as they were? Wasn't Sakura just so lucky and thankful to be born to such wonderful parents? Didn't Sakura realize she owed them for everything that they had done? Didn't Sakura realize that she was in their debt for taking care of her and raising her and dealing with all her depression issues and anxiety issues? They spent a lot of effort on her, you know._

Her father would leave the room when her mother would wave her hands franticly in the air and raise her voice about the fact that Sakura wouldn't hug or touch her mother as much as she would like. If Sakura ever stood up for herself and told her mother that her comments hurt and that Sakura wasn't a touchy-feely person, and just because she flinched back every time her mother tried to hug her didn't mean she hated her, it just meant that Sakura didn't want to be touched like that, her mother would get upset and angry, and everyone in their house would know it, and her father would eventually pull Sakura aside and gently tell her to apologize to her mother and make her happy again. Because no one was happy if Mommy wasn't happy.

(Sakura had come to the conclusion a long time ago that her touching issues originated with her family, though she would never, ever voice that.)

And so eventually, if things got bad enough, her mother would suddenly start to cry and yell at Sakura that _Sakura just hurt her so much_ and _maybe it was her mother's own fault, for protecting Sakura and standing up for her against the bullies in school and making excuses for her on why she wasn't coming out of her room on some bad days when the depression really set in. Maybe her mother shielded her too much and didn't make Sakura work hard enough. Maybe they protected her too much and that was why Sakura was such an ungrateful brat now._

And Sakura would just stand there and take it, quietly breaking apart on the inside. Because this was her mother speaking, and her father had left the room as soon as her mother's tears started and was hiding in her parents' bedroom watching some sport. He had never once stood up for Sakura, so why would he now? But this was still her mother, the woman who raised her, and after seventeen years of this happening, at some point Sakura told herself it was all true, all so very true, and she was an ungrateful brat. And while her mother said all these heartbreaking things to her, Sakura would adorn her indifferent mask, because she had gotten so very good at not letting her feelings show, and that would only enrage her mother more, because then her mother would tell her that she was too emotionless and this was just proof that she was spoiled and ungrateful and didn't love her mother at all. Oh, how much a victim her mother was.

Maybe Sakura was just too emotional for her own good. Her mother used to always tell her she wasn't emotional enough, that she was cold and stoic. But the truth was that Sakura was either way too emotional for her own mental health or would have to shut down her emotions to get through a day, to shove down everything until she lost herself to depression and anxiety at a moment when she was alone and nothing else could catch her attention. She could be the kind of emotional that would leave her catatonic in her bedroom, replying something someone said that may have been a little cruel or careless, or one of the many things her mother had said to her in that _voice_ , the one that just made Sakura feel so very insignificant, like she would never have a voice of her own and if she tried, she was nothing – her voice was nothing. And that scene or moment that really shouldn't affect Sakura so much just never left her head, and so she would be stuck in that state, leaving her emotionally drained and depressed. Most of the time, Sakura could never stop any of those memories from taking her over, to stop the sick slideshow in her head of every embarrassing moment and every cruel or chatty thing her mother said to her. And so Sakura shoved it all down into the pit of her gut until the slideshow started again, when she wasn't wearing herself ragged doing schoolwork or something else.

Later, during her senior year of high school, Sakura's depression and anxiety had gotten so bad that no medication was working and her parents – once again – sent her to a therapist.

And that time, for that therapist, Sakura tried to explain what was wrong, explain the things her mother said to her. Because it wasn't easy to explain. Any one of the cruel things her mother told her could just be chalked up to having a bad day and maybe her mother losing her temper or that Sakura was just too emotional and it was all in her head . . . but the thing was that it was never just _one_ time or _one_ bad day. It was almost every day.

It took almost half a year to get everything out, with having at least one and maybe two therapy meetings a week. Eventually, her therapist convinced Sakura to let her hold a family meeting.

If Sakura's therapist wasn't already sure about what her mother and father were like, she was convinced during that family meeting. While Sakura sat opposite her parents, sobbing so hard she could barely talk, her mother sobbed right back, throwing her hands up and exclaiming that she was just the world's worst mother and she failed Sakura in so many things. And Sakura sat there watching her mother make herself the victim and her father with his head down, and Sakura wasn't even sure he was listening while he carelessly rubbed her mother's back and never made eye-contact with Sakura.

After the failed family meeting, her therapist told her that she was sure now her mother was something called _histrionic_. Someone who has to make everything about them, who has to always have the attention on them.

(Sakura was told by her therapist that she needed to not care so much about what her mother said. But how could she? She was still her mother, and if Sakura couldn't be emotional about the hurtful things her mother said to her, what could she be emotional about? The little snide comments her mother said still would seep into her skin until she was so made up of what her mother said of her that Sakura forgot what she thought of herself.)

After the family meeting, things got so much worse. The catty comments kept coming, and Sakura tried to tell her father the things her mother was saying, that her mother had told Sakura that she owed her mother for being born and being raised by them, and her father looked at her with sad eyes and said that he hoped that wasn't the case. And that was just his way of saying that he was sorry her mother said that, but he wasn't going to do anything about it. So Sakura just took it silently and got worse and worse.

Then Sakura's grandmother – her mother's mother – got in on the drama, and whenever Sakura was alone with her grandmother, her grandmother would tell her about how _hard_ this was all on her mother, how Sakura needed to make things right. And Sakura just had the thought that this was none of her grandmother's business. That her grandmother didn't even know what she was talking about because she only ever got her mother's side of the story, and her grandmother was just as _histrionic_ as her mother, so of course this was how she saw it.

Little things kept happening during that year after the family meeting. Sakura would be in the car with her family, and she would gasp when her father merged carelessly because everyone knew he was an angry driver, and her mother would do the same thing at the very same time, and Sakura's father would laugh at them both and look at Sakura and say something like, "You're just like your mother when I drive," and Sakura would laugh and grin and say to her mother, "I blame you for this!" And Sakura was talking about making her edgy when her father drove, and her mother would look back at her, all solemn, and say, "Oh, I know you blame me for _everything_." Not even her father missed her mother's meaning.

Sakura kept going to therapy. Her therapist finally told Sakura that she would never get better so long as she was living with her parents. Her therapist had never told a client until then that she needed to get away from her home, that family meetings weren't going to make anything better, that Sakura needed to get out of that house as soon as possible. Because things were just that bad. _Toxic,_ her therapist had called her home life. Her therapist taught her about things like boundaries and not letting her mother push her around and not letting her mother control her in all her little snide remarks.

When Sakura started to push a little, when she started to call her mother out on things she was saying and tell her how much it hurt her, her mother laughed at her. And then her mother would say something about how this was so much harder on her than it was on Sakura, and she was just so selfish, and, _oh, didn't Sakura understand that her mother was owed an apology for that embarrassing family meeting?_

Or, worse, her mother would start in again about how she was just the worse mother ever and she just went so wrong in raising Sakura. When her mother would go on in that voice, the victim voice with tears in her eyes, it was so very much worse.

Her therapist wanted another family meeting. Sakura told her it wasn't going to happen.

When things got bad, especially right after the first and only family meeting, Sakura would stay away from her family home as much as possible. During that time, Naruto and Sasuke and Ino all understood the basic gist of her situation, and all let her stay with them from time to time.

But out of all of them, Sakura stayed the most with Naruto. Maybe it was because he lived the closest to her and maybe it was because he had the kindest family Sakura had ever met and they both loved her. Or maybe it had to do with that Naruto just always seemingly knew from one look at her that she just wanted to wrap herself in a ball in his bedroom and let him hold her. Just as easily, Naruto knew when Sakura just wanted to hide out in his house and not be touched. He was so good like that.

It was sometime during all this that Minato and Kushina either figured it out on their own or maybe Naruto finally told them what was going on or maybe a combination of the two, because they subtly let Sakura know that if she ever wished, she was welcome to move in. It wasn't like they had a limited selection of bedrooms.

And so Sakura did.

Near the end of her senior year, Sakura started to subtly move her stuff over to Naruto's home. She wasn't yet a legal adult, and she just told her parents that she was spending the night with Ino or something. Sometimes Sakura would spend the night with Ino, too. But mostly it was with Naruto and Kushina and Minato.

Sakura turned eighteen less than a month after she graduated high school, and that was when she completely moved in with Kushina and Minato and Naruto.

Her mother was not kind to her during this. There was crying and sobbing and yelling and many, many more catty comments. Her father didn't say much of anything.

But Sakura had money saved up, and when she started university, Sakura got her own apartment.

She didn't see her therapist anymore, and her depression and anxiety still raised their ugly heads from time-to-time, but it was so much better now.

Sakura no longer reached out to her family.

It was the best decision she had ever made.

Her mother had asked her many times during her senior year of high school if Sakura hated her. And always Sakura said that she didn't. And that was still true, Sakura thought. She didn't think it was wholly possible to _really_ hate someone who helped give you life, but actually _liking_ them was another thing completely.

Every once in a while she would get the odd phone call from her mother or father (more so from her father), and sometimes Sakura would answer it, but if they left a message because she was in class or just missed the call, it was rare for her to call them back. They were always awkward and (in the case of her mother) still instilled little guilt trips here and there. They still hurt, but Sakura didn't want to curl up in a ball and cry afterwards like she would have done before. Her father, on the other hand, never mentioned anything about what had happened, but would just chat idly with her until he had to get home from work. He never called her when her mother was around. Sakura wondered if her mother even knew her father called her at all. He sure as heck would never tell her mother by himself, not if he could help it.

Sakura didn't talk about it much, but taking up self-defense courses was one of her reprieves from all that. It gave her a sense of control, and that was something she was sorely lacking before. She became obsessed with it. Both Fugaku and Minato had taught her on separate occasions, too. She was so small and soft looking, like any cruel word could break her apart. If they only knew.

Sakura wasn't happy unless she could best Naruto and Sasuke in a spar. She wasn't content unless she was the fastest out of them both or the strongest. She lifted weights until her arms felt like jelly and ran miles until her stomach revolted against her. It wasn't until she was on her back half dead to the world that she felt better and in control.

It wasn't until she had gotten some of the highest grades in school that she was content. It wasn't until she could read so fast that she used to finish a book in a day. It wasn't until she could go into organic chemistry and not feel like she was drowning in schoolwork, because she was going to make damn sure she was near perfect in everything.

Some would say this was obsessive behavior. Some would say that Sakura was still cracked at the edges from emotional damage and the chemicals in her head were a little off, and Sakura would agree with them. She was an obsessive person. She was emotionally damaged and chemically unbalanced in the head. None of the dozens of anti-depressants she had tried helped her. She reacted badly to them all.

So if she worked her body until she almost broke, so what? She was healthy and balanced. She wasn't killing herself. She would sneak up behind Naruto or Sasuke in a spar when she used her size and speed against them and whisper in their ear. "Tag," she would say, "you're it."

 _Catch me if you can._

There had been times when Sakura's mother would call Naruto's home, when her mother figured out Sakura was hiding from her there. It was like hide-and-seek. Sakura would hide in one of her friends' house, and her mother would have the task of stalking Sakura down. Because Sakura wasn't allowed to do anything without her mother's hands directly in it, stirring the pot.

 _Tag, Mother_. _You're it._

Kushina became her mediator. Kushina had a way of soothing her mother away from ordering Sakura home when she wasn't of legal age yet. You would think that Sakura hiding away from her mother all those times would give her an inkling of what was going to happen once Sakura turned eighteen and could legally have nothing to do with her family, yet it appearing to still come as a surprise to her mother.

During those times, Kushina would speak to Sakura's mother as if nothing was wrong, as if Sakura wasn't wrapped up in Naruto's arms, hiding away. As if Minato wasn't leaving snacks and tissues outside Naruto's bedroom door. As if Minato and Kushina weren't using their influences to make Sakura's parents think that spending so much time with a senator's son could only help her in the future. Sakura still wasn't sure how they had managed to do it so well.

But Kushina was a smooth talker – possibly picked up from Minato, who could so seemingly easily talk his way through anyone. Maybe that was why Naruto would radiate such a calming and agreeing aura – he'd inherited it from his senator father and loving mother.

So, yes, Sakura owed quite a bit to Kushina and Minato. But they never held that against her. She was their surrogate daughter, they told her.

Of course, Kushina would love nothing more than for Sakura to marry Naruto. Same with Mikoto wanting Sakura to marry Sasuke, or at least one of her Uchiha boys. But that was more a rivalry than anything else.

Sakura spoke to Kushina and Minato now more than she spoke to her own parents. When Sakura aced an exam she had worked so hard for, Sakura called Kushina and Minato to be happy with. When Sakura needed advice for her finances and other new adult things she had been thrust into when she suddenly left her family, it was Kushina and Minato who helped her apartment search and get everything together. It was them who she called to give updates on her life to.

Sakura smiled into the phone now. Kushina had heard all about Sakura's adventure at the Uchiha mansion from Naruto, who had the brunt of Kushina's "red hot habanero" anger on him. She was not pleased with him losing the bet that resulted in Sakura being kidnapped to the Uchiha mansion, to say the least. No doubt Mikoto had great pleasure in calling Kushina up and telling her all about how Sakura was going to fall in love with one of her Uchiha boys now and marry and have a dozen little red-eyed babies.

"You know how the Uchihas are," Sakura now simply said.

Kushina made an agreeing noise. "Anyway, sweetheart, I was hoping you would come by soon to visit. It's been so lonely now that Naruto moved out. Not that I don't think it's great that you're all living together now, of course," she rushed to add.

It was true – Kushina had been all for Sakura living with Naruto. She probably would have liked it better without Sasuke also living with them, but Kushina and Minato also saw Sasuke as a son of sorts, what with being longtime friends with Naruto, so they couldn't complain.

Sakura glanced at the clock on her desktop. "I could come over now, if that's alright," she said. "I don't have a class for another few hours."

"Really!?" Kushina gushed. "That would be fantastic, believe it!" Sakura could envision the fist-pump that went along with those words.

Sakura told Kushina that she would be over soon, and hung up. She wasn't sure if she would have time to come back home before she needed to leave for her lab, so she changed into her black scrubs and closed toe shoes. Swinging her backpack over her shoulder with her laptop and notes in it, Sakura left another little note next to the pink paint on the counter that she was going to see Kushina. Just in case Naruto or Sasuke got home early and she wasn't there studying in her room like she always was. Then she made sure to take Blue out one last time before she locked her apartment door behind her.

It was about a twenty minute drive to the Uzumaki mansion, which could give the Uchiha mansion a run for its money.

Once Sakura was let through the gate, there was also an impossibly long driveway up to the mansion, similar to that of the Uchiha mansion. But the security there knew her by name and let her through with no problem.

Sakura didn't even have to knock on the door before Kushina was there, throwing open the too large double doors and knocking right into Sakura, engulfing her in a hug that reminded Sakura so much of Naruto. Her vision was obscured by nothing but red.

Kushina held her for another moment before leaning back, her long red hair in a ponytail. She ushered her into the house, and Sakura immediately smelled something burning.

Kushina cursed under her breath and ran for the kitchen. Sakura followed behind, smirking despite herself.

For as long as Sakura knew Kushina and Minato, Kushina would always try to cook for her family, but was never very good at it. More often than not, Minato would cook or they would go out to eat. But Kushina never stopped trying.

Now, Kushina threw open the oven door and immediately a plume of smoke trailed out. Kushina cursed again and grabbed an oven mitten from the counter and stuck her hand inside the oven, pulling out a baking tray that had little burnt circles on it. Sakura suspected that it had meant to be some kind of cookies.

Kushina dumped the tray on top of the stove and threw open some of the kitchen windows, despite the chill outside. Sakura covered her mouth and coughed a little bit while Kushina wailed and threw her hands up in the air.

"I just wanted to make some cookies, believe it!" Kushina groaned. "It shouldn't be this hard to do after all these years!"

Sakura smiled at her behind her hand. Her eyes were beginning to water. "It's okay, Kushina. It happens to everyone."

Kushina turned to her, eyes wide and watering. "It's _not_ fine! I just wanted to make some cookies for you and this happens." She waved her hands over the oven and the more-than-just-crispy cookies. Sakura couldn't even tell what kind of cookies they were supposed to be. "They aren't even homemade, Sakura! They're from one of those pre-made packages where all you're supposed to do is put it in the oven for fifteen minutes or something!"

Sakura swallowed her laugh. This wasn't all that surprising to Sakura. Even when she was still in high school she could remember both Naruto and Minato having to choke down Kushina's cooking from time-to-time to make her happy, even though it resulted in a stomach bug at times. More often than not, though, Minato came up with some excuse to do all the cooking and telling Kushina he _liked_ doing it for her. Whether this was actually true or not was still to be determined.

Sakura took Kushina's hand and led her out of the smelly kitchen and into the living area, dumping her backpack next to the couch. Sakura was still trying to smother her laughter; it wasn't easy.

Once Sakura distracted Kushina enough with talk about the apartment and the ongoing Paint War (leaving out Naruto's recent battle strategy of putting blue dye in Sasuke's shampoo, which could go one of two ways: either Kushina would find it hilarious like Naruto did or she would bring down her own wrath onto Naruto, and, frankly, Sakura couldn't take another Uzumaki destroying her apartment), Kushina was finally able to relax into the couch and forget about the smell coming from the kitchen.

Finally, Sakura looked at a clock on the wall and asked Kushina when Minato was getting home. "Anytime now," Kushina said, smiling. "He's been working hard lately with a new bill he wants passed."

Sakura nodded.

Kushina fidgeted with the glass of water she was holding, tracing her fingers around the rim, again and again, smoothing out the condensation. Sakura waited for her to say something.

Finally, Kushina took a breath. "Sakura," she began, "your mother called today."

Sakura froze. Her face was solid, stoic. Her little pink smile stayed on her plastic face. She blinked, tilted her head just a fraction. "And?" she asked, her voice mellow and pleasant.

Kushina swallowed and looked straight at her, forgetting about her glass of water. "She wanted to know about you. Wanted to talk to you, but said you hadn't been taking her calls."

"Ah," Sakura said, nodding just barely. "I've been busy."

Kushina nodded. "Okay. What do you want me to say if she calls again?"

"Just . . ." Sakura began, twisting her head to look out the window on the opposite side of the room. How often had she sat in this very spot, on the verge of tears but telling herself to suck it up, to dispel the words her mother threw at her like little needles? Too many. Sakura shrugged and looked back at Kushina, who she liked so much better than her mother. "Tell her whatever you like. If you don't want her calling you anymore, I can talk to her."

Kushina stared at her for a moment and then shook her head. "It's no problem, Sakura. You know that. I'd rather she call me if you don't want to talk to her."

Kami, that was so nice to hear. "Thank you," Sakura whispered, looking down.

Then the front door opened, and Sakura was so grateful for the interruption. She didn't want to talk about this. Talking about it with Kushina wasn't bad, at all, just because she knew most of everything that happened and knew this wasn't something simple as forgetting and forgiving her mother, because her mother would never see as having done anything wrong. It was about keeping herself healthy, and that meant distancing herself from her mother. It was like having an alcoholic mother who said she didn't have a problem – sometimes, there's just nothing you could do.

Kushina jumped up from her spot on the couch almost immediately, running to Minato and throwing herself at him. Minato, grinning from ear-to-ear, caught her easily, hugging her so tight that her feet almost left the ground. Her kissed her, and Sakura looked away, smiling.

When he put her back down, Minato noticed Sakura and grinned wider. "Sakura! I didn't know you were coming over today." He threw a sly glance at his wife, who just continued smiling.

Sakura smirked. "It wasn't planned, but I have to leave soon for my lab tonight."

Minato nodded, one of his hand splayed on Kushina's back. "Care to stay for an early dinner, then?" He lifted up some To-Go boxes in a bag. "I always get more than we can eat anyways . . . a habit from raising Naruto, probably." He laughed.

So Sakura stayed for an early dinner. It didn't take Sakura long to see Kushina and Minato were suffering from "empty nest syndrome." Especially Kushina. She kept asking Sakura about Naruto, even though Sakura knew Naruto called his parents nearly daily. Listening to Kushina, you would think Naruto was halfway around the world and perpetually without any bars on his cellphone. And Kushina continued to add more food to Sakura's plate even when she said she was full. And when Sakura was about to leave, Kushina tried to push leftover food in plastic containers into her arms.

"I can't take these, Kushina," Sakura said, holding out the plasticware. "They'd never stay good in my car during my lab."

Kushina frowned but relented, taking the packaged food back from Sakura. Then Sakura was engulfed in Kushina's chest again, so tight she almost choked. After about a minute, though, Minato put a hand on Kushina's shoulder. But the moment Kushina released Sakura, Minato was there in front of her, gently wrapping his arms around her. His scent reminded Sakura of Naruto, and for some reason it made her sad.

* * *

Sakura's lab passed, for the most part, uneventfully. Which was completely fine with Sakura, was _welcome_ , even. The only mishap was that she was not able to get a parking space in her normal parking garage, since some game or another was being held that night and the campus was near to bursting. So she was directed over to a dirt lot a little ways away from campus. Even so, Sakura was as early as she always was to her class.

Professor Yamato taught the lab by himself, Sakura was told by Lee, who sat near her again and who just happened to have the same lab time as her. But for some reason (some odd, unidentifiable reason) Professor Kakashi was there that night. It was about five o'clock in the afternoon, and the man who dressed like an assassin for whatever decided to attend a lab he was not obligated to attend. Professor Yamato's owlish eyes were about to burst out of his head, Sakura just knew it.

In fact, when Sakura first entered the lab, Professor Kakashi was already there, trading out his normal black attire for black scrubs. The scarf stayed, though. His little book was in his hands, and he sat in the front of the room so silently that you would think he had just gotten lost and somehow ended up in a university lab. When Sakura walked in, his white head raised just enough for him to glance over the top of his book at Sakura and give her a fond eye-crinkle, then returning his attention right back to his book. Occasional giggles were heard from the man from then on out until class started, not only freaking Sakura out, but many of the anatomy students as well.

When Professor Yamato walked in, nearly right when class was about to start, muttering apologies for keeping them waiting, Professor Kakashi, without ever diverting his gaze from his book, said, " _Maa, maa_ , Yamato-senpai. It's not polite to be late," and casually flipped a page. Professor Yamato had been too stupefied by Professor Kakashi's presence to adorn his typical homicidal gaze, which Sakura figured was the natural look he held around his colleague.

After a moment, Professor Yamato shuffled over to Professor Kakashi and said in a harsh whisper, like he was trying (and failing) to not let the students hear, "What are you _doing_ here?"

Professor Kakashi slowly lifted his head and slowly, so slowly, blinked at Professor Yamato. "Learning," he simply said, like Professor Yamato was a moron, and then went back to reading his book.

Professor Yamato just stared at him for about a full minute, not blinking, not moving, until his whole body deflated like it had already given up the battle the moment he'd entered the room but just now accepted it. He then went to the middle of the lab and started passing out the pre-lab quiz, studiously ignoring Professor Kakashi for the remainder of the lab.

For the most part, Sakura was also able to ignore Professor Kakashi. Even when she felt his gaze boring into her back. Even when she noticed that he hadn't flipped a page for the last ten minutes. Even as she was leaning over a cadaver and trying not to get anything on her scrubs (though that was a lost cause, as it always was) and was painfully aware how tight her scrubs hugged her hips.

When the lab was over, Sakura never once looked in Professor Kakashi or Professor Yamato's direction. Instead, she stuck next to Lee as they walked towards their cars. Lee had somehow gotten a spot in the parking garage, and when Sakura told him she was farther out in the dirt lot the campus used for overflow, Lee was against her walking by herself.

"Some evil man could grab the youthful Sakura-chan!" he had argued, to which Sakura had rolled her eyes and told him she'd walked through worse neighborhoods by herself at night, and that the dirt lot was lit and had routine security rounds. She'd be fine.

Eventually Sakura was able to convince Lee that it was nothing to worry over, and sent him on his way to his car. (But not before putting Sakura's phone in her hand, Lee's number already on the screen, and made her promise that if anything at all seemed off, she'd press the CALL button and he'd come running, _in all his youthful glory!_ )

And so she waved him off, and headed to her car.

Despite her words, the dirt parking lot _did_ freak Sakura out, but she really had been in worse places at night. And even if Lee did walk her to her car, _he_ still had to walk back to his car in the dark parking lot, and that didn't make her feel any better.

So she speed-walked in her black scrubs, rubbing her arms from the chill in the air, smelling like formaldehyde, until she could see her car lit under one of the street lamps the campus had placed around the dirt lot.

Her finger hovered over Lee's phone number. Because Sakura was born a girl, she was taught nearly since birth what to look out for when by herself. She was told to never walk alone at night, even in the best of neighborhoods. She was taught to hold her drink a certain way when she was at parties or just out with friends and to always take her drink with her to the bathroom so no one could slip her something. Girls were taught to look over shoulders and through car windows for anyone who might be able to snag her from behind. They were the unsaid rules of waiting until the car next to your own car pulled out before you walked by the occupied passenger's seat to get to the driver's side of your own car, lest something happen. And even though Sakura knew self-defense better than more girls – and most guys – her age knew, that never really did stop the fear, and the knowledge that you could do everything right and still have shit happen to you.

Sakura had the feeling of eyes traveling up the back of her neck, and so when someone jumped out from a nearby car and landed one solid punch on her right cheekbone, knocking the phone out of her hand and hooking her around the waist, Sakura was only half surprised. Her heart gave a rough jolt and she slammed her heel back on the man's foot (and it was a man, she knew, from his size and the possessive way his rough hands gripped her hips like he had more right to her own body than she did). It was too dark to see much of anything.

But it didn't work. Instead of slacking his grip on her, the man swung her around and off her feet – _Kami_ , he was so much bigger than her – and slammed her onto the hood of another car. Sakura was slightly surprised that the impact hadn't set off the car's alarm, but that would have just been too good to be true, she supposed.

He was between her legs now, and it was singularly the most terrifying thing about the situation. Sakura wasn't completely sure how he'd gotten there, but when he swung her around like a rag doll, the man had gotten one hand around her throat and the other catching one wild punch she threw out. With her legs on either side of her, kicking him was nearly impossible.

She gasped in surprise. That move was so fast and strong that Sakura would only have expected it from someone as trained as Pein or Itachi. But this wasn't Pein or Itachi, and this was no friendly spar.

So Sakura flailed wildly and bit down on her pride and whimpered and tried to scream. The man tightened his grip on her throat and she immediately went still, staring up at him and making her eyes widen and tear up. She gave another small whimper.

He rotated his hips into her own and loosened his grip around her throat at the groan that came from his mouth.

Sakura saw red. Her heart tripled in beat.

Later, Sakura couldn't completely remember what happened, or how it happened, but the next thing she knew was that the man was on his back in the dirt and Sakura was digging her fingernails into his throat, straddling his chest and keeping his legs down with her own while he clawed at her arms in an effort to breathe. She couldn't think. Tears were clouding her eyes and she just wanted nothing more than his skin underneath her fingernails and blood underneath her hands. She wanted to show a man like this that it wasn't _fun_ to be held down and forced to whimper and scream.

And so when this man below her began to choke and gurgle and even whimper, Sakura did exactly what other men like this did to girls like her.

She covered his mouth.

* * *

Sakura sat in one of the private rooms of _Red Dawn_ , holding an ice pack to her swollen cheek and thinking about how she was going to have to explain the black eye she was sure to have later to everyone who asked. She already knew she didn't want to tell any more people than necessary the truth about what happened in the dirt parking lot. Maybe she could get Ino or Karin to help her cover it mostly with make-up, but from the throbbing that was coming from her face, Sakura thought that might just be wishful thinking.

Her back ached from where she had been thrown on top of the car, and one of her hips was bruised and made sitting quite uncomfortable. Currently, Sakura was leaning on one hand, trying to keep most of the pressure off of that one side. Karin wanted her to lie down, and so she did, resting her head in Karin's lap. Ino wasn't there yet, but Sakura didn't doubt she would be soon.

The Akatsuki members and Uchihas were around the club, pacing like wild dogs or talking in rough, hushed tones. Pein and Madara had taken one look at her when she had stumbled in, Kakashi shouldering her weight and being one of the main reasons she wasn't falling to the floor, and ushered her into one of the private rooms with Karin, who had screamed when she saw Sakura's bloodied face.

Maybe it was the blood and the look on her face that made all the Uchihas and Akatsuki keep their distance. Maybe it was that her clothes were torn and dirtied that did it. Maybe it was the way she hugged her body and the way her eyes darted around the room like a skittish car or maybe it was the way that when Pein had tried to take her out of Kakashi's arms she had nearly had a panic attack and mumbled something about _Coving his mouth, covering his mouth so no more screaming._

The police had already taken her statement. It was morning now, she knew. What time exactly, Sakura had no idea, nor did she ask. Karin had long ago stopped asking Sakura questions and had settled for keeping her pink head in her lap and running shaking fingers through her matted hair. _Red Dawn_ had been emptied long ago and closed for the night. Sakura did not sleep.

At one point Kakashi had come into the private room and offered Sakura a wash cloth, to which she had stared blankly at it before Karin finally took it from him and began gently rubbing around her face and hands and arms. Sakura hadn't realized she'd had that much blood and dirt on her until then, when she could reach up to feel her face and touch actual skin and not slick blood and grains of dirt and twigs.

Kakashi had found her on top of her attacker, strangling him as he left long and deep scratched all up and down her arms and hands. He had heard her scream from where he was walking to his car, also parked in the dirt lot, his usual faculty parking space in the garage stolen by another employee. When he found Sakura, she was heaving and crying silently over the man, choking him of life.

Kakashi had attempted to pry her off him, but she'd only screamed again and threw an elbow up and into his face. She'd scratched at his arms and the ground while Kakashi called out to her and tried to calm her down, but he was on top of her and so, so heavy and Sakura had panicked. She'd busted open her hands and ripped her nails in an attempt to flee. She bloodied herself and Kakashi and the man on the ground, now unconscious from lack of oxygen.

Eventually Sakura had passed out. Kakashi had already called the police and the man was taken away and Kakashi had somehow managed to take Sakura to _Red Dawn_. She had woken up in a police car with Kakashi next to her and said something about the Uchihas, and because the Uchiha's family name could get you anything the police had taken her not to the police station or a hospital, but _Red Dawn_ instead, just as she asked.

Since then, Pein and Madara had kept everyone besides Karin and Kakashi out of the private room Sakura was in. Naruto and Sasuke had come in all their raging glory, having heard about a pink haired girl attacked in the campus parking lot. They had screamed and demanded to be the ones to take care of her, but Karin had stopped them at the door upon Sakura's request and made another officer take her statement of what happened. Naruto and Sasuke were too involved and Sakura did not want to tell them what happened in the parking lot like that, under testimony and with a little notebook to write down things she said.

Ino came running in sometime later. She'd taken one look at Sakura and her shaking hands and offered her a pill, to which she took without a second thought. She would need to go to the hospital eventually, she knew. Pein and the police and many others had already tried to force her, but every time Pein came near her Sakura whimpered, and it was so unlike her that he masked his face and let her be. Nothing was broken besides her pride and there were only a handful of bruises, but nothing to warrant going to a hospital right away. Sakura knew what a fracture or dislocation felt like, and was confident that she did not have one.

Whatever Ino gave her must have knocked her out, because the next time Sakura woke up, she was in the hospital. Naruto was sitting in the chair next to her, one fist holding his head up from where he sat, still in his ruffled police uniform. His hair was even more disheveled than usual, and Sakura knew he'd been running his hands through it.

Now that she was paying attention, Sakura's hands ached. Looking down, she saw long scratch marks, bandages covering some of the worst ones, and ragged nails and bruises. Her bones felt fragile, and she remembered how it had felt to strangle a man underneath her; it hadn't been an easy task, but she had been high off of adrenaline and scared out of her mind.

She closed her eyes for a moment. She knew she was drugged right now – it was the only reason she felt as well as she did. Maybe they had given her a sedative to keep her relaxed – she couldn't remember.

Sakura looked at Naruto, still sleeping, and decided she might as well get this out of the way. She called out to him, softly at first, her voice much more ragged and dry than she'd first expected, and then louder.

Surprisingly, he woke up almost instantly, and then was by her side even quicker, almost knocking down the chair in the process and nearly falling on top of her in his haste. Sakura just blinked at him as he stuttered incoherently at her.

She licked her chapped lips. "W-where's Sasuke?"

Naruto blinked at her for a moment and then groped his packets for his phone, feeling everywhere around his body for the magical pocket that would have his cellphone. Eventually he found it and began dialing the teme's number, who seemed to pick up instantly.

Nearly one minute later, Sasuke was at the door to her hospital room, breathing heavily, a cup of coffee in his hand and dark circles under his eyes. Like Naruto, he was still in his police uniform and his usual perfectly styled (now navy blue) hair was flat and oily looking. Sakura blinked stupidly, feeling her jaw drop just the slightest bit. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen him look so disheveled and . . . and just so _tired_.

Sakura swallowed thickly. "Hi," she said, because Sasuke was still standing in the doorway with that stupid Styrofoam cup of coffee and not blinking at her.

She watched as his throat bobbed as he swallowed, and Sakura thought his throat might just be as dry as hers. " _Hi_ ," he said back, and Sakura flinched when his voice cracked.

She locked eyes on his cup of coffee, still steaming. A trickle of black liquid was running down one side from where Sasuke had spilled it. It touched his finger and Sakura thought that it must burn, but he didn't pay it any notice. Sakura looked back down at her hands on the white sheets, covered in bandages. She spoke without looking up.

"So Kushina and Minato want us to come over to visit more often, you know," she said, scratching at her skin through the bandages. Her hands shook, and it was difficult to move. She swallowed again. "We should have dinner together soon, I think, lest Kushina flood our apartment next so we all have to move in with her and Minato–"

"Sakura," Naruto interrupted, making her look up. "Tell us what happened. _Please_." And, God, it was his voice cracking on the _Please_ that did her in.

So she told them.

* * *

Author's Note: Gosh, this chapter was in no way funny and kind of depressing. Jeez. I must be in a mood.

So. We get a look into Sakura's past. While I felt that her past needed explaining and we needed to get into why Sakura is the way she is, I don't want this story to be all about that, either. Shit happened, whatever. Yes, Sakura is still going to have occasional depression and anxiety issues as one would expect, but it will not rule her life. And now, after that attack, things will be tough. I just wanted to have a scene where even though Sakura knows all this self-defense and isn't making stupid decisions, bad things still sometimes happen. Sometimes girls get attacked. Sometimes things just can't always be prevented.

As for Sakura's relationship with her parents, I didn't want to do something cliché. I wanted to write something that couldn't be easily fixed. Something that is difficult to explain, but for the person living it, it's hell. It's complicated, as all things are, and it's not something Sakura could ever tell someone in one conversation because even she doesn't completely understand why she feels like she does. On one hand, she loves her parents; on the other, she resents them and knows she can't ever have a nice relationship with them.

A side note: Strangulation via hands is not an easy thing to accomplish, _at all_. It may seem odd that Sakura could overpower a man like that and keep him underneath her like that, but I'm playing off of Sakura's amazing strength in the manga/anime. Also, people can do strange things when they're scared enough, when they have enough adrenaline running through their blood. That scene was meant to be a moment of when Sakura is so out of control and so scared that she could literally lift a car if she needed to. It's to show that she isn't perfect and even with all her training and the few other minor times she might need to twist out of someone's grip who's causing her problems, it still isn't always enough to prevent something like this. Shit happens.

Also, there's a song I kept on listening to on repeat during writing this, so I figured I should share with you guys what it is. It's called _Tag, You're It_ by Melanie Martinez. I recommend listening to it while reading this. To me, it makes all the difference.

So I've started school again. It's going good, but I still don't know how often I'll be able to update. I will try my best, so please be patient with me. ;P


	6. Chapter 6

Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

The next few days or so passed in much of the same haze as being doped up in the hospital had. She remembered things, little snip-shots of what she was doing or what she was studying, but there was a fog in her mind that she wasn't all that concerned about getting rid of. At least not right away. It began the first day after the attack and stayed until the moment Sakura's sheer anger and frustration cracked through the haze.

Memories like Sakura lying on the couch in her living room, a steaming cup of tea on the coffee table before her, untouched, while the TV blared in front of her and she twiddled with the leftover bandages wrapped around her arms and hands. They itched like crazy, and while none of them were particularly deep, Sakura knew she'd just scratch at the healing wounds if there wasn't anything to cover them.

Memories of the day after the attack in the dirt parking lot, and Sakura couldn't escape Naruto and Sasuke's scrutiny. They didn't really know how to act around her anymore, it seemed. They wouldn't leave her alone, always hovering nearby and at her beck-and-call, but neither had broken her personal bubble of space like they normally would (especially Naruto). Usually, Naruto would be nearly hanging off her and whining for attention while Sasuke would still sit side-by-side with her, pushing Naruto out of the way if necessary.

But neither were doing that anymore. Instead, both boys were treating her like something that would break if breathed on the wrong way, and Sakura was just about to break out crying because of it.

Usually she wasn't this much of an emotional tornado, but after the attack the night before, Sakura found herself on a constant emotional cliff. (She blamed the drugs the hospital gave her.)

Ever since Sakura told both Naruto and Sasuke everything that happened, from the man grabbing her hips and the grinding of his hips to her strangulation of him, neither Naruto or Sasuke had touched her besides the times in the hospital when she had needed help standing or getting into the car, still too woozy from the drugs given to her. They blinked at her and stared at her, but neither could seem to get past the new boundary her attacker had created when she was grabbed the night before. (It was ironic to Sakura that while her attacker may not have succeeded in getting what he wanted from Sakura the night before, he still succeeded to distancing her from the people around her. In a way, he still _had_ won, despite the reassurances both Naruto and Sasuke said on the matter, when they told her she had beat him back and defended herself perfectly and that she overcame it all before it got out of hand . . . and yet neither of her two morons could look her in the eye.)

Somehow, Naruto and Sasuke had convinced both Ino and Karin to go home after they'd spent some hours at the hospital while Sakura was still so doped up on pain medicine that she didn't wake, and Sakura was glad for it. Since then, both girls had come over to visit Sakura, relieving Naruto and Sasuke from their constant post in whatever room of their apartment she was in.

But now Sakura was alone in the apartment with just Naruto and Sasuke, both of whom she was ready to throw something hard and pointy at. She was not fucking _breakable_ , damnit. This one attack didn't change anything.

But she wasn't stupid. Sakura understood that it was the moment it clicked for both Naruto and Sasuke—what her attacker's intentions had been and what he managed to do to her before Sakura nearly killed the man—that both Naruto and Sasuke were thrown for a loop and had the horrid realization that all the money and power and influence in the world couldn't fix this. Because Sakura knew they knew about how she had flinched back from Pein when she arrived at _Red Dawn_ that night. Because neither boy wanted her to ever flinch back from them like that, because it just might kill them if she did.

The one thing they couldn't prevent her from, however, was attending her classes. She wasn't bedridden and there was no good reason for her to miss even more class time. If she did, Sakura might fall too far behind and end up repeating some classes, which just wasn't acceptable. She didn't care how much Naruto and Sasuke threatened and begged her to stay where they could see her—she refused to stay immobile and catatonic in her apartment just because of this one _bad thing_.

That wasn't to say that it was easy on Sakura. She made sure to park in the parking garage on campus, even if that meant arriving an hour or two early and driving around the area until she could get a spot as close to campus as possible. It didn't mean her bandaged hands didn't shake and her pulse didn't race. _For no damn good reason_ , she berated herself. Yes, it happened. Yes, she was almost raped and got a decent slapping around by that man. Did it mean she was going to jump at every shadow in every parking lot for the rest of her life?

( _God, she hoped not._ )

There had been more than one occurrence where Sakura would get out of one of her classes and there would be Naruto and/or Sasuke, standing outside her class building, nonchalantly leaning there in their police uniform like it was the most natural thing in the world to do, and walk and chat with her as they walked her to her car; their own police car just so happening to be parked remarkably close (and illegally) to hers. This was the only time Naruto and Sasuke would touch her, would invade her personal bubble if only to protect her from the invisible malicious shadows that now adorned every crevice and corner of a parking garage.

(It was a testament to how shaken up Sasuke was that the personal bubble of space he usual enforced was now non-existent during these times, going so far as to hold her elbow or touch her hand every now-and-then, chatting with her as they walked slowly because of her still healing wounds. It was still nothing compared to how Naruto was with her, but it was so remarkable and unusual that it was a constant reminder to Sakura just how bad things could have been. _God_ , she just wanted to scream about it.)

Lee was a mess. Sometimes Sakura felt that she didn't have time to feel bad for herself and what the attack did to her personally because she was constantly reminded by the people around her that they, as well, were a mess and possibly blamed themselves.

This included Lee, who upon seeing her the next time they had class together, broke down in tears. Right there in the hallway. With the swarm of cranky, tired, coffee addicted college students swim around him without a second glance. He didn't even go into one of his spiels about how his _youthfulness had failed him_ or _he was not cut out to be the youthful Guy-sensei's pupil_.

Instead, he buried his head in his hands and fell to the ground, right there in the middle of the hallway. Sakura didn't even think he was trying to be dramatic about it like he always was. This was simple anguish over not walking Sakura to her car that night. For not pushing the subject and doing it despite her brushing him off. (It wasn't his fault, not at all, but, God, it sure as hell felt like it.)

Sakura no longer denied Lee when he walked her to her car. He didn't even really ask—just started following her in the direction she walked in after their lab together.

Professor Guy had even found her one day on campus, when she was sitting on a bench outside the building to her next class, having gotten there so early that the class before hers was still in session and she couldn't go in just yet. Even he, the man who dressed in all green and who had asked Sakura to call him the "Green Beast of Konoha," was solemn as he looked over bandaged arms and the long sleeves she kept pulling down and the scarf she kept burying her face in, trying to hide the black eye and bruising she had on the right side of her face. Not even the make-up Ino and Karin had helped her apply covered everything . . . But even if it had, Sakura would still bet that she would be trying to hide her face, out of shear self-preservation.

Professor Guy hadn't said anything to her right away, but had sat down on the bench next to her and asked her if she made the man uglier than he made her, and it was enough to make Sakura smile, even though it hurt to do so.

Sakura tried not to think about why she hadn't gotten a visit from the Akatsuki or any of the other Uchihas. She knew it was because of how she had looked and reacted to Pein that night. (God, it made her stomach roll just thinking about it.)

Because they were keeping their distance from her because it was what they thought she wanted . . . and on some level, it was. But not like this. Not this so obvious ignorance of her because she was now fragile in their eyes, because she was _fucking damaged_.

So after about a week of this treatment, of having the people around her walking on eggshells around her, Sakura had had enough. It was only Ino and Karin who treated her the same, because they were female, and being female you just sometimes knew when you had to force things to go back into how they were Before, because all of a sudden there was a Before and an After, and if you let it, the After part would completely rule your life, and you'd no longer recognize who you were.

It was a Friday, and Sakura had just gotten home after her last class, Sasuke trailing behind her in his own car, when she got angry. Really angry.

She was so sick of it. So when she walked into the kitchen with Sasuke at her heels and Blue licking her fingers—just being the Godsend he was and having curled up beside her every moment she was home since the attack, just knowing in that animal way he did that something horrific had happened and protecting her from anything worse—Sakura locked eyes with Naruto and proclaimed that they were going out that night.

Neither Naruto nor Sasuke made an argument. (Sakura got the feeling that if she had asked for the stars in a glass bottle right then that both boys would pull every family connection and use every bit of money at their disposal to make it happen.)

Sakura changed into a long-sleeved black dress with buttons down the front, black tights, and grey ankle boots. The sleeves were long enough to cover her hands—and therefore the bandages—and she wrapped a shimmering white scarf around her neck to hide the faint bruising on her collarbone that had appeared a day or so after the attack. Her make-up was still intact from the rest of the day, and so Sakura took the time to re-apply it and to even add some glimmering sliver eyeshadow and thicker mascara before she left.

Naruto and Sasuke had changed out of their police uniforms and into decent night clothes. (Meaning: mostly black everything.) Sakura took a moment to look at Sasuke's navy blue hair paired with his black clothes and again appreciated the contrast. From how Sasuke hadn't yet tried to color it back to black yet, she had a sneaking suspicion that the color was also growing on him.

 _Red Dawn_ was packed that night, being a Friday and whatnot. Sakura hadn't texted or called Karin to tell her she was coming over that night, but now that Sakura was there with Naurto and Sasuke, she made her way over to the bar.

There were no open seats available, so Sakura just leaned between two occupied seats and waited until Karin caught her eye. When she did, Karin's eyes widened for a fraction. She waved at her and yelled out a drink order, and Karin just blinked at her for a moment before quirking a lip and nodding.

When Karin came around with her fruity drink, she slapped it down and told Sakura it was on the house, and that the boys were in one of the private rooms in the back. Sakura knew it wasn't Naruto or Sasuke she was referring to.

Naruto and Sasuke, who had been trailing behind Sakura and now were ordering their own drinks, weren't looking at Sakura right then, and so she took that moment to make her way through the sweaty bodies lining the black and red room. It wasn't like either moronic boy didn't notice her leaving even if they weren't directly looking at her—they were far too skilled at keeping an eye on her, especially now—it was just that they weren't blind as to why she was there.

Before Sakura got to the private rooms lining the back wall, she noticed Hidan and Kakuzu out of the corner of her eye. They had their heads bent towards each other and speaking in low tones from what she could tell. Kakuzu had on a deep scowl and Hidan was shifting his weight from foot-to-foot, balling his hands up at his sides again and again, looking all the while that he needed a good workout session and something (or someone) to take his anger out on.

She glanced once more at the private rooms, which all had the curtains closed so she couldn't see who was sitting in which ones, and because she didn't particularly care for the idea of poking her head inside each until she found someone she knew, Sakura made her way over to Hidan and Kakuzu.

Neither man noticed her right away, and Sakura took that opportunity to slow her pace and attempt to pick up some of the things they were saying, but it was too loud and the music—some Florence + the Machine remix—was blaring through a speaker nearby. It would be amazing if they could hear themselves talk, let alone eavesdrop.

But, quite honestly, it didn't take a genius to figure out what they were likely talking about.

When she was about five steps away from their corner, Kakuzu noticed her, his strange green eyes staring right into her and completely ignoring Hidan until Hidan turned with a sneer on his face to look at what had preoccupied Kakuzu's attention.

When Hidan saw her, he didn't stand stock still like Kakuzu, but took two quick strides until he was right in front of her, staring down at her with an unreadable expression. There was only about an inch of air between their bodies and Sakura could practically choke on the tension and anxiety that space held. She didn't know why—she wasn't usually this kind of anxious around Hidan . . . or any of the other Akatsuki members or Uchihas for that matter.

But he was just staring at her, so intently, violet eyes roaming her skin like he could see right through the carefully applied make-up and almost non-existent lighting in the club to see every imperfection and bruise and cut on her body. Sakura bit down on the shiver that wanted to race through her and almost gasped when Hidan finally lifted a shaking hand—and, oh God, Hidan's hands simply didn't _tremble_ like that—to her face and lightly dusted it across her right jawbone.

And the action almost made her tear up. Because it was so gentle and so docile, like she was an injured deer, and Hidan simply was _never_ gentle or docile. He was the one to practically break her bones in a hug and slap her on the back like she was just one of the guys and never, _ever_ hold back on her in a spar. He was one of the few who had taken one look at her and not cared about the pink hair or the tiny body and treated her like she wasn't a breakable piece of fine china.

And just when Sakura opened her mouth to tell him off about treating her differently all of a sudden, Hidan's thick arms were around her and lifting her off her feet and—God help her—swinging her around as he laughed in her ear. And it did hurt—her injuries were still fresh, of course—but it didn't even matter because he was treating her like he always had, always would, and it was just the best fucking thing he could have done right then.

And so Sakura laughed through the aching that was coming from her body. She laughed right along with Hidan and she would bet anything that they looking like two crazy and/or possibly drunk and/or high idiots right then, but she couldn't have given an almighty fuck if she'd tried.

Kakuzu was there, then, smacking Hidan upside his head and hissing at him to put her down, because he was embarrassing him and could Hidan try not to be a complete and utter moron for five fucking seconds? And Sakura just kept laughing as Hidan set her down, cussing at Kakuzu like he'd always done and telling _stitch-face to calm the fuck down, couldn't he see he was busy making the fine ass bitch laugh?_

Her laughter diverted both their attention, because it was loud and rough and Sakura kind of felt like she was choking and couldn't breathe, and Kakuzu and Hidan were just gapping at her like they weren't completely sure if she was off her pain meds yet. Her stomach was aching and there were tears in her eyes, and the looks on their faces just made her laugh all the harder and then some as Hidan whirled on Kakuzu and accused him of making Sakura cry.

Eventually, Sakura had one hand on the wall next to her, steadying her, and one hand brushing at the corners of her eyes and attempting not to smear her mascara and eyeliner. Hidan was still yelling something at Kakuzu and Sakura was pretty sure Kakuzu was growling low in his throat, his green-ish eyes narrowed and as slit as a snake's.

Sakura placed one hand on Hidan's arm, making him look down at her. She quirked an eyebrow at him and shrugged. "Where's Pein?" she asked.

Hidan sneered and Sakura's smile widened. "Why would you need to see that little fucker when I'm right here?" And he wrapped one arm around Sakura's waist, and she let him and ignored the twitch that went through her.

Sakura laughed again, because it felt good to do so, even if there was still that little voice in her gut and her head that made her want to lock herself in an empty room and hide her face.

She shook her head at Hidan. "I need to talk to Pein. Is he here?"

"He's in the back," Kakuzu answered for Hidan, nodding at a particular private room with the blood red curtain drawn. It was the same room Madara had dragged her into when she had come to retrieve her school ID that one morning. It must be their regular room for meetings and . . . whatever it was the Akatsuki did in their free time. "But he's not alone," Kakuzu added, and Sakura wasn't sure if he was saying that to warn her or make her feel better about seeing him.

"Should I wait, then?" she wondered out loud. If it was just more members of the Akatsuki and even some of the Uchihas, it wouldn't be a big deal. But if it was some of Pein's business partners or something, that would be something completely different.

Kakuzu grunted. "Go ahead. He'd want to see you."

Sakura tilted her head to the side and nodded. She turned back to Hidan and smiled, and his grin widened.

He leaned down until his lips touched her ear, and Sakura tensed. If he noticed, he didn't say anything, nor did he back up. (And Sakura secretly appreciated it.) "Come back to fucking see me, ya hear?" Hidan said, his voice husky and deep. "I'm much better company than any of these fuckers." And he gave Sakura's ear a playful nip.

It was a mistake. Both his action and her reaction . . . it was a mistake. Because Sakura suddenly whipped her head back and water was prickling behind her eyes and this was _Hidan_ for fucks sake, so why was she reacting like this?

She swallowed thickly and blinked rabidly, clearing her vision and refusing to acknowledge the water as tears, because she had not cried over anything yet and she was not about to start while in a fucking _night club_. Sakura pushed her tongue to the roof of her mouth and clamped down, fighting the impulse to shudder.

Hidan was blinking at her, thrown off. His violet eyes searched her face and Sakura knew he couldn't see a damn thing. And maybe that was worse than anything else, that she wasn't showing much of anything.

Kakuzu was different. He caught her movement and was standing stock still, watching her like he was a hunter too afraid to approach the bleeding deer.

Sakura laughed, high and loud. She almost winced from the sound. "Okay. I'm gonna go see Pein now." And spun on her heel and made a bee-line for the designated private room.

* * *

She couldn't go in.

It had to have been over a minute of Sakura just standing there in front of the blood red curtain, not really looking at anything and wondering how the hell she was supposed to explain to Pein in so many words that she was not, in fact, damaged and did not need to be coddled, and while she appreciated Pein not completely jumping her at any given opportunity, there was nothing more annoying than being kept at a distance like a frightened deer because Pein and almost everyone else thought Sakura was going to break apart at the seams and have a PTSD episode. Thanks, but no.

And this was even if Pein was suddenly alone. Kakuzu had said Pein wouldn't be alone, and Sakura really, _really_ didn't want to have this conversation with an audience present. And she _really_ didn't want to have to say any of this in front of the Akatsuki or Uchihas.

(Kami only knew what divine being must have saved her from Mikoto's wrath, since there was no way in hell the Uchiha matriarch wouldn't get wind about Sakura's little run-in with a possible rapist five seconds after it happened. Sakura had fully expected to have both Mikoto and a good chunk of the Uchihas on her doorstep after that night, but oddly enough they had all been keeping their distance. Sakura had only received a phone call from Mikoto at one point telling her if she needed anything, she knew who to call and that, also, the Uchiha family had connections to, ya know, assassins and hitmen and whatnot. In fact, Mikoto was holding interviews as they spoke in her traditional tea room with the thousand dollar china. The Russian hitman who praised Mikoto for her eye for details in said fine china was looking promising.)

Sakura was preparing to turn around and hightail it out of there right before someone came up behind her and grabbed her around the waist, making her choke in shock and horror before it settled in who it was. And while it wasn't the man she had been hoping to see, Sakura was again grateful that there was at least one other man in her life who wasn't going to treat her like fine china.

"Tobi is a good boy," he kept murmuring into the crook of her shoulder. Again and again and again. "Tobi is a good boy. Tobi is a good boy. Tobiisagoodboy _Tobiisagoodboy_ —"

"Tobi," Sakura called, and then she realized that he wasn't saying that he was a good boy, but that he _wasn't_ a good boy.

"Tobi," Sakura admonished, her eyes wide and mouth slightly parted, moving her head until she could see the top of his wild black hair. "Of course you're a good boy. Why wouldn't you be?" But even as she said it, she knew. God, she knew.

When Tobi had sneaked up behind Sakura and grabbed her around the waist, Sakura had instinctively locked a hand around his arms in shock, but now she loosened her death grip on his arms and made Tobi release her enough to be able to turn in his arms and look at him. But he was keeping his head down, still muttering under his breath about not being a good boy. (God, her _heart_.)

"Tobi," Sakura called, firmly. He didn't look up and Sakura repeated herself, stronger that time.

Slowly, Tobi's head came up enough for Sakura to look into his eyes. They were red-rimmed and bloated, and Sakura was shocked to see that they were almost all red in the irises, that strange Uchiha trait taking over. For Tobi's eyes to be that red meant that his emotion had to have bottled up for quite a few days by then.

"Whatever is the matter with you, Tobi?" Sakura whispered in her softest voice. What she really meant was, _Please stop feeling so much for my sake_. But she knew saying something like that would be pointless.

Tobi looking at her, not blinking, and let out a choking sound, like he was going to cough but it wanted to come out as a sob instead.

"Have you been like this the whole time?" Why had no one told her— _called_ her—that Tobi was reacting like this. Why had no one warned her that Tobi would take this the hardest, even though nothing was his fault, nothing could have been prevented?

But she knew. Sakura knew that no one—especially not Tobi himself—would ever admit to Sakura what was going on behind closed doors. They saw her as the victim, and they would treat her thus and not tell her about their own pain, even if it was on her own behalf. They left her alone with Naruto and Sasuke as company and bodyguards while someone like Tobi slowly fell apart on the inside. They were trying to give her room to recover, give her time to heal, when all the while they might as well have been swimming in their own pain. They tried to save her, and in return, damned themselves.

"God," Sakura cursed to herself. "God, I'm _sorry_ , Tobi." She shook her head sadly.

This time, Tobi really did let out a sob, and tears started to pool in his eyes. "No! No! Sakura-chan shouldn't be sorry for anything! Not one thing!" He sniffled pathetically, and Sakura saw his red eyes twist and turn as his voice suddenly dropped a notch and became deeper and throatier. "If anyone should be sorry," he growled, "it should be that evil man who attacked Sakura-chan."

Sakura shivered at his words. (But not for the reason that she maybe should, but because if anyone was going to make that _evil man_ pay, it would be Sakura.)

She shook her head slowly. "No. No, Tobi. Don't do this to yourself. I'm okay. Really, I am. It could have been much worse."

Tobi went still in her arms, and Sakura tensed at the sight of his hard eyes. "Just because it could have been worse doesn't make it right. Doesn't make it any less painful," he whispered, so low and hoarse in the nightclub Sakura wasn't sure at first she'd heard him right.

She blinked up at him, softening her features. "No, you're right, Tobi. It doesn't make it any less painful, but it's something, and it's true. If I keep on being angry or scared about it, I'll drive myself crazy." She swallowed thickly, and then half-smiled up at him. "Plus," she said cockily, "I did manage to rough him up pretty good, huh?" She leaned closer to Tobi, and by instinct he leaned down to let Sakura get close enough to his ear to whisper like she had a dirty secret and still be heard. "I'm still the pretty one, too."

Tobi didn't move for a pregnant moment, and then softened around her body. Sakura released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "I can't lose you again," he muttered, and Sakura blinked in confusion. And she wasn't entirely sure she'd heard him right or that it had even been Tobi talking amidst all the noise and people around them.

And then she remembered Tobi's past and what it did to him, what scars it gave him, and who he lost, and she understood. And because she understood, Sakura did not question him, nor correct him on who she was and who it was he had already lost, and how they were not the same person.

Suddenly, Tobi perked right up and swung Sakura around in his arms like he normally would after clobbering her upon seeing her, his own form of a greeting. And he was laughing and screaming about how glad he was that Sakura-chan had come to see him and Sakura was laughing too, because even though she knew very well that this was all just a mask Tobi was putting on to cover his own grief over her attack—just like he adorned his _Phantom of the Opera_ mask that one night at _Red Dawn_ to cover his facial scars—it was something, and Sakura would take it.

When he put her down, Sakura swallowed and looked back over her shoulder at the red curtain where Pein was supposed to be. "Tobi," she began, "do you know who's with Pein right now?"

Tobi blinked at the red curtain like he had never seen anything like it before. He then looked back down at Sakura and shrugged. "Tobi isn't told a lot of things about what Pein-san does. But Tobi knows that Pein-san would never mind seeing Sakura-chan, no matter who he is talking to!"

Before she could respond, Tobi had taken her by her upper arms and hauled her into the room Pein was supposed to be sitting in. A conversation came to an abrupt halt, and Sakura twisted her head around to see who else was in the room with them.

Two men Sakura had never seen before. Both in everyday, though somewhat nice clothes—collared shirts, ironed pants. One had a few buttons undone at the top of his neck, while the other had sleeves all the way down to his hands and the cuffs closed. Both looked over at her and Tobi, neither gaping in shock at the picture they must have presented, this childlike man hauling a bruised pink haired woman around. Both men eyed her coolly, until the man with the top buttons undone at his throat looked down at his lap and began texting on his blackberry.

Itachi and Pein were also in the room, opposite the two men. Pein raised an eyebrow in her direction. Sakura bobbed her head and flushed scarlet at the attention. "Uhh . . ." she mumbled, not really sure how to explain this situation.

"Tobi was a good boy and brought Pein-san a present!" Tobi nodded his head furiously, and Sakura scoffed. _Well, wrap her up in a ribbon and present her to the devil, why don't you?_

Pein blinked at them both and the corner of his mouth lifted up in amusement. Without looking away from her, he excused the two unknown men in the room and waited until they left the private room to speak again. "This is . . . unexpected," he began, cautiously. There was a glass of amber liquid in front of him, and Pein idly traced one finger down the edge of it, smearing the condensation. "I hadn't expected you to be out again so soon."

Sakura scoffed again. "I'm not broken, damn it," she said, her eye twitching in irritation. "I'm perfectly fine." But she regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth—they didn't even sound convincing her, what with her wavering voice and bruised face and bandaged arms and hands.

Pein arched a brow even higher. "I see," he drawled. He looked at Tobi and told him to put her down, since Tobi had not released her from his hold since entering the private room. Her feet touched the floor.

"Sorry to interrupt," Sakura said instinctively, not feeling comfortable with having made such an appearance, even if it had been Tobi who hauled her in there without a warning.

Pein waved off her concern. "If it's you, no conversation is too important," he said.

Sakura looked at Itachi, who had been silent so far. She found him eyeing her arms and hands, and looked at how his own fingers were wrapped tightly around his own glass of amber liquid.

Feeling her eyes, Itachi looked up to meet her own gaze, and it was smothering. His eyes were not red, not like Tobi's had been a moment ago, but they were just as intense if not more so, and Sakura felt suffocated under his intense gaze. He tapped his two middle fingers on the rim of his glass before throwing his head back and shooting the whole glass back, and then smoothly sliding to his feet from the booth and brushing the red velvet curtain aside before leaving. Sakura was dumbstruck.

Pein drew her back from her thoughts. "He is uncomfortable," Pein began, slowly, with deliberation. "He is uncomfortable that he took his eyes off you long enough for something like this to happen to you."

"That's silly," Sakura said, surprised. "It's not like he can watch me 24/7. It'd be weird if he tried."

One side of Pein's mouth curved up. "Yes, but haven't you ever wondered why at least one of us is almost constantly at your side? Why we annoy and frustrate you so, by following you and showing up at your school or your workplace so often? We are trying to protect you."

"Protect me," Sakura repeated, turning it over in her head. "You cannot protect me from everything . . . no matter how much you might want to."

"True," he said, simply, nodding. "But that does not mean we will not try. We have many enemies, Sakura. The Uchiha alone have enough money and influence to warrant the attention and hatred of many, many people, and that kind of power along with the dangers and darkness of the Akatsuki is a very dangerous game."

 _Oh_.

Now, Sakura was a smart girl. She had book smarts, and her time with the Uchihas and Akatsuki had taught her to be smart in other ways, too. One of those ways was to be able to pick up on double-meanings.

The bet with Naruto and Sasuke. Her being hauled to the Uchiha mansion so suddenly. Shisui showing up at the hospital incognito, demanding her to go out to lunch with him. Madara breaking into her old apartment before she got home for work, inspecting her living space. Deidara and Sasori suddenly becoming professors at her university, drawing her to them via an explosion in the new art deco building.

The sudden flooding of her old apartment for the sole purpose of getting her to move in with Naruto and Sasuke.

Pein saw the moment it all clicked for her. He twirled his drink around with the tips of his fingers, watching the liquid spin. "We knew we'd never get you to move in with one of us, and you would undoubtedly notice a new security system around your apartment."

Oh, god.

"What have you guys gotten yourselves into?" Sakura asked, her voice hushed and just a little angry. Because this wasn't about _her_. This was about what these men had gotten into, and what by their attention and affection had gotten her dragged into.

"Nothing to concern yourself with."

" _Bullshit_ ," Sakura growled, and it was so guttural and dark that even Tobi took a step back. She'd forgotten he was even there.

Pein stopped twirling his glass with one sudden hand. He looked up at her, at her flowing pink hair and her flushed face and her freckled nose and wanted more than anything in that moment to take her into him and store her away in his chest, in his heart, where no one and nothing could ever harm or touch her ever again.

He swallowed and cleared his throat. His eyes were sad, but firm. "We will protect you, Sakura-hime."

"Oh," Sakura chuckled darkly. "Don't you _dare_ 'Sakura-hime' me, _Pein_ ," she growled. "If you are actually telling me that the reason I was . . . attacked—" that word was foul on her tongue, and it didn't feel quite right when there was another term that was so much more apt. "—was because of something you and the Akatsuki have gotten involved in, I have a right to know."

In a move that surprised both Pein and Tobi, Sakura pulled her scarf all the way down and pushed her sleeves up, showing them the bruises and bandages. "This is what your secrets and ' _protection'_ of me has brought. This plan of yours has not worked. So don't you _dare_ tell me that you will protect me and that this is nothing to _concern_ myself with. _I_ will decide what does and does not concern me. And this, Pein?" She pointed at him. "This concerns me. It concerns Naruto and Sasuke too, but I'm guessing they're not in on it either, since God knows that those two would be even more protective had they known. Hell," Sakura scoffed, "they probably would have tried to kidnap me and take me out of the country had they known."

Maybe it was the leftover effects of her pain medicine, but Sakura found all this to be somewhat hilarious. That all these men had tried so hard to protect her and watch over her and basically stalk her life, and look where it had gotten them all? Her, bruised and damaged. Them, miserable and guilt-ridden. They had spent so much time and effort trying to protect and save her that they forgot about themselves.

(Oh, the _irony_.)

Sakura shook her head, sadly, and laughed low in her throat, eyes skyward. She felt the beginnings of water in the back of her eyes and focused on a light in the ceiling, blinking rapidly. She sniffed pathetically, and tried to hide how her throat was closing up and how there was pressure building behind her eyes. She would not cry in front of them.

Pein was just staring at her. Tobi had hid himself in the corner of the room, fiddling with the curtain there. His hands trembled. "But . . . But Sakura-chan, Tobi was a good boy and made sure you were protected, even when we couldn't always be around."

Sakura stared at him, hard. Then it clicked. "My classes," she said, and the choking feeling was back.

Tobi nodded. "Kakashi-san is a good friend." His hand ghosted over his face . . . his missing eye.

Sakura pictured Kakashi and his black scarf. The scarf that covered half his face—covered one of his _eyes_.

Sasori and Deidara hadn't been enough. It hadn't been enough for them to make sure two of their members were employed by Sakura's university as art instructors . . . No, they had to have someone directly in Sakura's classes, too.

It worried her, more than she liked to admit, how involved the Akatsuki and Uchihas were in her life. How involved they were _without her even knowing_. How people that she might meet were there for her, because they knew a member or Uchiha, maybe owed someone something, maybe were payed a pretty penny for their protection of her.

The thought made her sick.

Sakura breathed deep. "What about Professor Yamato?" she finally asked, hiding her face in her hands. She couldn't look at them anymore. "Is he in on it too?" She laughed, softly, and it sounded like she was choking. She _felt_ like she was choking. "How about everyone else? Rock Lee? Professor Gai? Karin or . . . or even Ino? How many people are around me that are there to protect me?"

"Sakura—" Pein started, but stopped when she didn't uncover her face to look at him. "It's not like that. Hatake-san already worked at the university, and Tobi simply made a request for him to look out for you. They are longtime friends."

 _Oh, yes,_ Sakura thought. _Longtime friends that share a death of another friend between them like dirty laundry._ God, what was wrong with her?

"And good thing that he had, too, or else you might not be standing here now, but be even more beat up."

At that, Sakura uncovered her face. She felt the heat in her cheeks, the twitch in her bruised hands from where she had wrapped her pretty little fingers around that man's throat and _squeezed_. "Had he not been there I would have either killed that man or deprived him of breath until he passed out. I would then have hyperventilated until someone else either found me or I could pull myself together to call the police," she grit out between clenched teeth. How dare he tell her to be thankful for attempting to protect her when he was a major reason she was in danger in the first place? When she didn't even know she was in danger, and so couldn't have taken her own measures to protect herself? "So do _not_ tell me to be thankful that you lied to me, tricked me into believing I was safe when I was not."

"But, but Sakura-chan—" Tobi started, but Sakura cut him off.

"I do not care that you have put me in danger with whatever shady business you are in. _I don't care_. What I _do_ care about is the fact that instead of trusting me enough with this information and a warning about the possibility of a man cornering me in a parking lot you instead went behind my back to get other people to protect me, when you know very well I am perfectly capable of protecting myself." She stopped to give one sheer laugh and roll her eyes. "Hell, if I had known any of this from the beginning I would never have walked back to my car alone. I'm smart, Pein. And it's about time you figured that out and trusted me enough to let me be privy to this kind of information."

Pein watched her during her whole speech, watched her blink back her tears in the dim lighting of the private room and saw her heart break not at the fact that she was attacked so recently, but that she was seen as so incompetent to protect herself that others around her lied to her so they could do it for her.

He ran a thumb along his lip piercing and waited for Sakura to finish calming herself down. Tobi huddled in the corner and trembled. He had never seen Sakura so angry before. Sure, she was always angry at one Uchiha or Akatsuki member all the time, but that was a different kind of angry—a softer kind. She would be frustrated with them and tired of their clinginess a lot of the time, but never to the point where she hated them, not really.

This was different. This was the sting of betrayal, and it would take a while for Sakura to heal and forgive them all for it.

Pein sighed softly. "I suppose the road to hell really is paved with good intentions," he murmured, mostly to himself.

He stood up suddenly, and Sakura was so surprised she took an instinctive step backwards, but Pein already had his arms around her and was now sitting back in the booth, cradling her in his lap. Sakura was frozen in shock.

"I am sorry, Sakura-hime," he whispered into her head. Sakura felt his lips and breath tickle the hairs on her head. "I see now that I was wrong to keep this from you. Forgive me."

Sakura sat frozen for a moment longer, then pushed back against Pein's arms and stood up and walked out of the private room without looking back. It was not as much as a rejection of a form of forgiveness as a pause on it. The fight had gone out of her, and now she just wanted to go home with her morons. And so that was exactly what she was going to do.

* * *

Author's Note: I know this took forever. But I do have two other oneshots out right now, so that's . . . something. I just wanted them finished and done with. So. Yeah.

This was a shorter chapter, but I'm so busy right now I didn't know when I'd have more time to edit and write more, so here ya'll go. I have no idea when the next chapter will be up.

I swear, when I get a notification for an updated story on my email, it just makes my day. I look forward to them. It's like a kind of comfort food (if that even makes sense). I don't even know. I'm tired. My current law class is the bane of my existence.


	7. Chapter 7

Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

Sakura was not entirely sure what she wanted anymore.

She stood in front of her anatomy class, the one she shared with Lee and the one taught by Professor Yamato and Kakashi. (She could no longer think of him as Professor Kakashi; now he was simply Kakashi, because now he was just someone who was there to protect her, and Sakura supposed that put her on a first name basis with him.)

It was early. Early enough that there was almost no one else in class yet. The room was empty, and for the first time since starting college, Sakura was honestly debating skipping class altogether.

Going to class today wouldn't be the first time Sakura saw Kakashi since the attack in the parking lot. It had been more than a week since then, but it _would_ be first time seeing Kakashi since Sakura found out the truth about why Kakashi payed so much attention to her, why he was following her that day in the parking lot. And Sakura didn't know if she could really sit through a whole hour of Kakashi looking at her over the top of his porn book, checking to see if she was fidgeting, to notice if she had tears in her eyes, if she was afraid of something, if she was about to have a panic attack or if she was going to finally break down. Now Sakura knew the truth about why he cared, and it made her gut twist violently at the realization.

She didn't even need to go to class, really. She had a solid "A" in the class, and hearing the lecture really never helped her all that much. She just had to study the slideshows and read the textbook, and she'd be set. The only thing she'd be missing out on would be the participation credit, and it wasn't like missing one day would drop her grade. She was almost sure Professor Yamato would let her miss a day if she told him. He was very understanding and knew about her attack, so he'd understand and let it slide.

But that wasn't the point, she knew. The point was that she wanted to avoid Kakashi now that she knew who he was. That he was the long lost tragic friend of Tobi's, who shared the death of another friend between them. A friend, Sakura knew, that Tobi saw in Sakura.

And after seeing what her attack had done to Tobi, Sakura was scared to see what it did to Kakashi.

If Sakura had lost Naruto or Sasuke like Tobi and Kakashi lost their friend, Sakura didn't know how she'd ever fully recover from it. She might move on, but actually recover from it? _Never_. And from hearing Tobi on the rare occasions he would mention his dead friend, Sakura believed he had never gotten over it, either. Kakashi, Tobi, and their friend had been as close as Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura were, and so Sakura sincerely doubted Kakashi was any better off than Tobi.

Sakura didn't want to be that reminder for Kakashi like she was for Tobi. She didn't want Kakashi to ever look at her like Tobi sometimes looked at her and have the realization grip her heart that he wasn't really seeing _her_ , but their dead friend, Rin.

Sakura also knew that she didn't want to see Kakashi because she felt betrayed. Yes, she understood why Tobi had done what he had, but that didn't take away the sting of knowing that ever since Sakura had been in Kakashi's class, he had known exactly who she was. That she had not met him on equal grounds, because he already knew so much about her, and Sakura was so naïve.

Maybe it was running—skipping this class. Maybe it was being weak and foolish and ignoring the problem of her own fear and the bee-sting of betrayal, but sometimes running wasn't giving up or being weak, but was used for a time to re-gather herself. A time for Sakura to give herself a break from it all and make the next choice.

There was nothing wrong with that, and so Sakura left that building and walked along campus, praying that she didn't run into Professor Yamato or Kakashi or Lee or even Professor Gai. She didn't want to talk with anyone right then.

She could go home, but Sakura guessed that Naruto and Sasuke would show up outside her classroom and wonder where she went. She could text or call them, but didn't know if they'd see it in time. Plus, Lee would undoubtedly think she was kidnapped or something . . .

Sakura took her phone out and texted Lee quickly, telling him she may be absent from class, and to take notes for her. He texted back immediately with many, many exclamation points and in all caps. So that was taken care of.

Sakura didn't text Naruto or Sasuke immediately, though. She knew that if she told them she wasn't going to class they would want to know why, and while Sakura had already filled them both in on what she had found out at the club the night before from Pein and Tobi, Sakura knew they'd want to see her and not want her to be alone. And she loved that about them, she did, but right then that was not what she wanted.

And so Sakura found herself walking towards a building she never thought she would freely go to: the art deco building.

While a part of Sakura wanted so desperately to be alone, there was another part of her that told her to keep going, to find someone she could be around and not let herself sit with her own thoughts.

This might not even matter, she told herself. Sasori and Deidara might not even be there or might be teaching a class. But she knew they would stop whatever they were doing if they knew she was there, though.

Sakura skipped right up the steps leading into the building she'd run into not so long ago, but while at that time the hallways had been filled with smoke and the smell of burning, now nothing was amiss—normal hallways with normal classrooms with the normal baritones of professors giving lectures from both sides of the hallway.

Sakura walked down the same stairway she had not so long ago and found herself in front of the same large classroom Sakura had found both Sasori and Deidara in before. This time, however, Sakura could see more of the room than before, and recognized the clay plates and painting stands. It smelled so much more welcoming—like oil paints and wet clay—than before when Deidara had shown Sasori his "art" along with the tell-tale scent of burning metal and plastic.

There were students in the room, though the doors were wide open. If Sakura looked closely, she could see the black spot on the cement floor from Deidara's "art." She idly wondered how it was explained to the school.

There was some kind of classical music playing from the speakers overhead, but besides that and the soft noise of brushes on murals, it was quiet.

Sakura saw them before they saw her. Deidara, sitting on the floor and working on something involving clay and wire. Sasori, sitting in a chair with his back to Deidara, hunched over a table with a knife in one long, white hand and another holding some kind of wooden figure. Both boys were still in the early stages of their art projects, so Sakura couldn't tell what it was they were making.

She shifted from foot to foot, not really knowing how to proceed. Why had she come here? For Sasori and Deidara, obviously. But what was she supposed to do now? She knew that neither would ignore her nor be upset that she was there, interrupting their class. In fact, she knew it would be quite the opposite. But what then? She hadn't come here to talk to them, not really. She didn't have anything to talk about with them. She just . . . _just_. She just wanted to go somewhere else but her own class, and now she was just there. Just.

This was a bad idea. She should leave before they noticed her awkwardly standing in the doorway looking like a lost lamb. Kami, what if they made a scene . . . ?

" _Sakura_ ," Deidara called, surprising soft. Sakura's head whipped over to where he and Sasori sat, both having looked up and noticed her. Oddly enough, the lack of the _–chan_ was more off-putting than anything else.

Her heart skipped a beat when Deidara stood from the floor. It nearly fully stopped when he took quick steps towards her while Sasori stayed sitting, his body half turned in her direction, frozen with her eyes locked on his.

"Deidara," Sakura greeted when he stopped not even a foot in front of her. She almost took a step back at his closeness, but the hand on her cheek stopped her. His hand was shaking, _trembling_.

She started to reach up to push his hand away when she heard him speak, softly, so low Sakura wasn't sure if it was meant for her own ears or for Kami above. " _Don't_."

She froze once more. She lowered her hand.

The tips of Deidara's fingers ghosted over her cheek, where she was still a little sore, and over to her lips where he must have felt her vanilla mint Chap Stick before he snatched his hands away, like his own actions surprised him.

"Hi," Sakura said, and swallowed. She licked her lips, which was a mistake, because Deidara was still staring there and watching her movement. Kami above.

"Sakura-chan. Why are you here?"

Oh.

Something must have shown on her face (her face that showed far too much these days. She hated it), because Deidara's blue eyes that reminded her so much of Naruto's widened and he was moving his hands (his hands that he loved so much, that he created so much with) in frantic motions while he stuttered out, "I-I mean, I love that you're—it's awesome of you to visit and everything, b-but I'm just, un, wondering . . . _why_? Not that Sasori-danna and I aren't super happy that you're here, un! 'Cause we are, aren't we?" He looked over his shoulder, frantic, at Sasori, who had not so much as blinked since Sakura approached. He was no help, sitting there, still make eye-contact with Sakura and making no reply.

Deidara looked back over to Sakura, who at this point was trying not to laugh.

"I'm skipping class," she said.

"O-oh!" Deidara looked back over at Sasori for guidance, but got none. "Um, do you want to, like, talk, un?"

Sakura just looked at him.

"N-no? Okay, that's totally fine, yeah! How about . . ." He looked down at his hands like they were going to give him life's greatest answers. Though why Sakura was there, around them, of her own free will would have done as well.

Sakura wondered if Deidara and Sasori were more flustered (well . . . Deidara was. Sakura didn't exactly know _what_ Sasori was) in having Sakura standing there with no real other purpose than to see them or because this was the first time they'd seen her since the attack and now they got a front row view of her injuries.

Sakura shifted her weight. She looked down, then to the side. Saw the clay sculpture of a dragon one student was working on.

"Do you have any extra clay?"

Deidara blinked at her while Sasori just continued to stare, before breaking out in a huge smile. "Of course, yeah!"

Deidara ushered Sakura over to where he and Sasori were sitting, and Sasori took that moment to sneer. "Clay? The doll would much prefer some paints and—"

"Forget it, danna! Sakura-chan wants _clay_ , yeah." He smirked at him, and Sakura sighed.

And so Sakura sat on the floor next to Deidara, hands wet and caked with clay, which she hadn't played with since high school and was never particularly good with it even then. It was fun, though. It was loads better than sitting in her anatomy class, feeling Kakashi's eyes on her.

Sasori and Deidara were watching her, she knew. Sasori's long peaks over his shoulder; Deidara's fidgety glances that he tried to play off as checking out her clay project. She tried to ignore them both.

Luckily, neither asked any questions as to why she was skipping class. Her, who never missed a class (except for in the event of being forced to by Naruto and Sasuke because she was too sick to go, though Sakura didn't think that counted).

It was . . . nice. Relaxing.

For the first few minutes, Sakura simply sat there, messing with the clay, working it with her hands, softening it, without any purpose in mind. She was like a little kid again who went with her parents to the Italian restaurant a few towns over that would give kids a ball of dough and some flour to play with while waiting for dinner. It was messy, but it kept the kids quiet and content.

But then she actually tried to do something with it. At first, she thought about just making a pot or jar, but that didn't work. Deidara offered her various tools to cut and slice the clay with, and even gave her a few pointers.

He told her how to keep it wet enough with water that it wouldn't stick to her hands, but not wet enough to be useless. He pointed out to her how to mold it with her hands and how to layer it. He showed her a way to incorporate wire to it, so she could have a wire skeleton to go off of to create whatever design or animal she wanted.

Mostly, Sakura just watched Deidara work. He was always so gifted with his hands—she knew this even without watching him work. They were soft; not too calloused. Like any artist, he could make something so difficult look so easy.

There were times Sasori or Deidara would get up to walk around the classroom, helping students, giving comments out about what should be added, what should be taken away, what was too much, what wasn't enough, what was _just_ right . . .

It wasn't what she had been expecting. Sakura had thought Sasori and Deidara would be territorial about their art styles with everyone like they were with each other, but they weren't. Instead, they were helpful, talking students through an idea, an original design that became so much more, even if it wasn't like their own original art style.

But mostly it was just the three of them in the corner of the room, fooling around with their own mediums.

After a while, Sakura checked her phone, taking care not to smear the screen with clay. She was surprised to see it had almost been an hour—her anatomy class would be almost done by now. She texted both Naruto and Sasuke not to worry about her and that she didn't need either of them to pick her up that day, that she'd be home later and to please take Blue for a walk before it got dark out.

Deidara read her text over her shoulder, and she let him. "We have another class right after this one," Sasori said, surprising Sakura. She turned her head to look at him, only to see he was still looking at his own wooden creation, smoothing down a corner of it with some sand paper. "You can stay here with us."

Sakura looked down at the clay in her hands and nodded. "That sounds good, actually."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Deidara.

Sakura didn't stop moving her hands. "I don't know what to say."

"That wasn't a no."

Her lips quirked up. "No, it wasn't."

A pause.

"It could have been worse, you know," she finally said, not looking up. It was nice to have something productive to do with her hands. Soothing. It was like when she brushed Blue, and she would feel the static from his blonde fur stick to her hands while he snuggled up to her legs.

Neither Sasori nor Deidara made a noise, but both stopped their movements.

"I wanted to hurt him," she continued, still thinking about Blue, even though she wasn't talking about the dog. "I still do, you know. I could have really killed him at that moment—I _wanted_ to. I still want to, and I don't feel bad about that."

"You shouldn't, un," Deidara whispered.

Sakura ignored him. "You both know about Kakashi, I take it."

"I don't know what you want us to say about that," Sasori said.

Sakura smirked. "That wasn't a no."

Deidara chuckled and scooted closer to her.

Sakura didn't flinch. "I'm okay, you know. Like, really. It sucks, and my body still kind of hurts, and I might flinch at some things, but I'm still okay. I'm just healing, but that doesn't mean I'm not okay."

There was a long pause, and Sakura didn't think they were going to say anything after that.

But then Sasori said, "You know, doll, that night, when you came into _Red Dawn_ , we were there."

Sakura's hands stilled. She hadn't seen them.

"And after you flinched back from Pein, so violently, right there in front of everyone, and went into the back with your friend, we had to stop Pein from leaving the nightclub right then to go and kill your attacker himself."

Sakura stopped breathing.

Sasori was speaking in such a lazy drawl, too. Like he had all the time in the world to tell Sakura this story, like it was nothing more than him telling her about the weather or a detailed description of his art techniques.  
Sakure squished out the clay in her hands, so it smooshed out between her fingers as her hands tightened into fists. "I didn't know that."

"We didn't expect you to. But we just thought you should know, yeah," Deidara answered.

Sakura nodded and went back to her clay. She stayed there until it was dark out and both Naruto and Sasuke were blowing her phone up with calls and texts. Both Sasori and Deidara stayed with her until they were done with their classes and until Sakura wanted to go home.

Both walked her to her car.

* * *

 **(ROUGHLY) ONE MONTH LATER**

Sakura walked into a well-known café near her college campus. It was a hot spot for college students, and now that it was finals time, almost every seat was taken by starved students with notes crammed together and old and nearly broken laptops on every available table surface.

Sakura pulled her scarf tighter around her neck and covered her mouth with it against the cold wind. It was ridiculously cold lately, and so Sakura found herself living in scarfs and knee-high boots and too-large sweaters. Not that she was complaining, of course.

Once inside the café, Sakura looked around and quickly deduced that who she had agreed to meet here hadn't arrived yet, and so Sakura quickly ordered a coffee from the counter and found a booth in the back corner of the café. She hadn't brought any notes with her to study, so she pulled out her phone to look through recent text messages and—when that proved uneventful—got on her Pinterest app for no other reason than to have something to do with her hands and to preoccupy her mind.

Luckily, she didn't have to wait long before he arrived. Sakura looked up to see Kisame twist himself into the booth, which now looked so small and cramped next to him. Kisame had to literally fold his legs in just to slide into the booth. It didn't look comfortable in the slightest.

"Hey-a, Squirt," he greeted easily, his shark-like grin spread across his face. "You're a sight for sore eyes."

It was true. Sakura had put considerable distance between herself and the Akatsuki and Uchiha members. She hadn't spoken or seen any of them since her last interaction with Sasori and Deidara. It wasn't that she was necessarily going out of her way to ignore them; it was just that she hadn't been in the mood to go back to _Red Dawn_ and hadn't sought out any of the members, either.

And maybe it wasn't just one-sided. Sakura knew very well all of the members and Uchihas were perfectly capable of inserting themselves in her life . . . whether she liked it or not.

But there hadn't been any surprise visits from Shisui at the hospital or Madara when she got home or even Sasori or Deidara when she was at school.

And, honestly, it hadn't been so bad. Sure, there were times when Sakura sort of missed or thought about some of the members, but they were few and far between, and Sakura had spent that last month healing with Naruto and Sasuke.

She had stayed in with them both on Friday and Saturday nights. Sakura had tried half-heartedly to get them to go out without her, but they always refused or made some other excuse as to why they needed to be home all the time.

Sakura had even spent some time with Kushina and Minato. True to her word, Sakura had made sure she and Naruto and Sasuke had dinner with them . . . She just hadn't quite expected that one dinner to turn into them all spending several nights there.

It wasn't that big of a deal, really. They basically all had their own bedrooms from when they slept over at Naruto's house when they were in high school. But Sakura bet that there had been some negotiation between Kushina and Mikoto about that.

Neither Kushina nor Minato really brought up Sakura's attack. However, there were some idle placed reassurances and somewhat threats spoken at dinner one night about how the man who did this would be held to the highest possible punishment the law would allow (this said by Minato with a dark voice and Kushina with a vaguely demonic gleam in her eyes, so much so that even Naruto gulped audibly).

Sakura allowed them both to pet her hair and hug her and reassure her and let them rule her life during that time. It was nice, in a way. She didn't have to think about feeding herself or doing her laundry or anything like that because without ever having been asked, both Minato and Kushina did this for her. Sakura would come back to find her laundry hamper empty and a pile of freshly washed and folded clothes sitting on the edge of her bed. Every night Kushina would (attempt) to cook dinner, which would result in either Minato picking up To-Go orders or cooking dinner himself. The times Sakura tried to do these things herself, she was shot down without mercy.

The only thing Sakura put her foot down for was working at the hospital. Not only did she not want to miss more time, but she just missed the distraction. It wasn't schoolwork, and it kept her active. She needed that.

Eventually, though, Sakura put her foot down and moved back into her apartment with Naruto and Sasuke. (Though, really, not much changed even after this. Both Naruto and Sasuke did all these things for her as well, along with staying with her almost every night to watch a movie or to hear her rant about her exams or classes.)

Sakura needed this time to be with Naruto and Sasuke. They were the ones who could see her at her very worst and she would never mind. They were the ones to appear in her bedroom at two in the morning because she had been whimpering in her sleep from a nightmare. They were the ones to continue to spar with her and let her get stronger on her own and learn that nothing had really changed between them.

But now Sakura was tired of this ignoring thing she and the Akatsuki and Uchihas had going on. So she made the first move.

She wasn't completely sure why she chose to text Kisame first. Maybe it was because she felt so relaxed with him and because she wouldn't have to play word games with him.

"How are finals going?" Kisame asked conversationally. "Kicking their butts as usual, huh?"

Sakura smiled and Kisame grinned. "They're going fine. I'm almost done now."

"But that's not why you asked me to come here."

And there it was: Kisame's bluntness. She liked that about him.

She shook her head. "No, it's not. I wanted to know how the others are dealing."

"You mean if they've tried to kill that man before he can be put on trial?" Kisame grunted. Then he sighed. "No, they haven't. But there have been a few close calls and a few too many complicated plans made between some of the members. There was also some weird Russian hitman who showed up and—" Kisame shook his head and sighed, his eyes skyward. "Anyways, they're mostly fine and have calmed down a bit. I think they needed this time to do that. I did, anyways."

Sakura nodded him to continue.

Kisame shrugged. "There's not much to say besides telling you that the guys are restless without you around. They miss you—we all do."

"That was the other thing," Sakura said carefully. "Who will be there tonight at _Red Dawn_?"

Kisame blinked at her before his face broke out in a smug grin. "After this meeting with you I highly suspect everyone will be there tonight."

Sakura snorted into her coffee. "I might come tonight . . . with a friend, actually."

Kisame's eyes narrowed. "A . . . friend?"

"Yes. Just a friend."

"If he dies or loses a limb, it ain't our fault."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Yes, it would be. And how do you know it's a 'he'?"

Kisame narrowed his eyes at her. "Is it?"

Sakura just took another sip of her coffee.

Kisame just growled, but a small smile was on his lips.

* * *

Author's Note: I apologize for this long wait and the fact this is such a short chapter. To be quite frank, I don't know how much more there will be to this story. I have some ideas how I'm going to end this, and then I may spend some time writing some oneshots. We will see.

I'm done for this semester! Yay! So I hope to get more writing in. Gotta be honest: this semester was killing me. But now it's done . . . and then there's next semester. (Why did I choose such a difficult major again?)


	8. Chapter 8

Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

"You promised."

"I did no such thing, Ugly."

"Yes, you did. I remember. I was in your store, and I told you about the nightclub and you said you'd go with me. You promised."

"I never _promised_ anything. And I have no desire to be viciously mauled to death because you somehow think that parading me in front of your many, many homicidally inclined suitors is a good idea."

There was a heavy pause.

"I'll let you sneak dye into Sasuke's shampoo next."

Another pause.

A tiny sigh.

"Deal. But next time I want to dye Dickless's hair."

"I promise nothing. Oh, and wear something black. Preferably leather . . ."

"You really are trying to get me killed, aren't you? Ugly."

"Bastard."

They were rather fond of each other.

* * *

Sakura was smirking.

She was rather good at it. Growing up with Sasuke and being around so many Uchihas did that to a person. Sakura tried not to do it too much, since she knew how annoyed she got when Sasuke did it to her, but sometimes it just had to be done. Now, for example. Now was a very, very good time to smirk.

However, Sakura was a little nervous too. Not the scared kind of nervous, but the excitedly-squirming-in-her-seat-but-still-not-completely-sure-how-things-were-going-to-go kind of nervous. She hadn't seen any of the Uchihas or Akatsuki members, sans Kisame, in quite a while. Personally, Sakura was amazing at their restraint in not tracking her down and forcing their company on her, as they always had done. Though recent occurrences would prove to all of them that this was not a usual line of events, so Sakura didn't really have much to go on and didn't know what to expect.

Naruto and Sasuke weren't with her. They both had the night shift, and Sakura was a tiny bit glad for it. She really didn't want to have to deal with them being overbearing and also having to keep an eye on them both the whole night to make sure they were not either (1) getting drunk off their asses and putting on a strip show for the immediate vicinity and/or (2) getting mauled by fangirls who may or may not be arguing/betting on how gay their relationship with each other actually was. Those were always immensely amusing, especially since Sakura still remembered the nice little blackmail photos she had from her stay at the Uchiha mansion that included both Naruto and Sasuke in a rather . . . provocative situation that may or may not involve bondage. Yes, there was always that.

There was also the fact that Sai was with her, and whenever Sai, Naruto, and Sasuke got within the same building as each other, shit was undoubtedly going to go down. And not in a good way. In a dear-Kami-why-was-she-friends-with-them-all kind of way. Between the not-so-sly comments about Naruto's dick and the ever present representation of Sasuke being a traitor (that of which Sakura was still not privy to the details of, since all three of the boys refused to speak of whatever Sasuke had done to deserve such a nickname from Sai), Sakura was truly amazed at her self-restraint in not killing them all brutally and horrifically. It was a wonder of Kami, apparently.

And then there was Sai's personal nickname for her.

"Hey, Ugly, we're here."

(Truly, a wonder of Kami.)

They found a spot about a block away from the club, and Sakura was only slightly annoyed at how fluently and easily Sai slide into the parallel parking spot on the street. On his first try. With somehow perfectly symmetrical space between both cars. Damn him.

Sai was one of those people Sakura had to come to realize she would always have a love/hate relationship with. Love, because the bastard had grown on her over time, and there was something amusing and somewhat adorable about walking in on Sai hunched over a self-help book on conversing with other normal human beings. Hate, because the bastard was so easily perfect at everything else. _Everything_. Even animals loved him. Like, even the possibly rabid cats in the alleys downtown slid right up to Sai and purred against his leg.

(Or that may simply be due to the confounding worldly truth that like calls to like, and rabid cats living in trash who love to hiss and swipe at any unsuspecting passerby would undoubtedly be called to Sai, who also on occasion hissed and swiped at other human beings.)

Sai was wearing leather, as was asked of him. Not that he really needed to be told, all things considered. He seemed to own more leather jackets and pants and sometimes even shirts than socially acceptable. Sakura blamed this on his unhealthy obsession with _Grease_.

That night, he had on one of his black leather jackets that hugged his small waist and outlined his shoulders. He had his hands shoved into his pockets and walked with a rod-straight back, as he always had. Perfect posture had been rigorously applied in his upbringing.

His pants were soft black jeans, worn at the knees and hems, but just in the way that showed good use and many washes. A belt was loosely tied around his waist—more for appearance than anything else—and underneath it all Sai wore a loose black T-shirt with a slight V-neck. Sakura had slowly clapped for him when she first saw him that night. Oh, this was going to be so much _fun_.

(She was also simultaneously thinking about how to steal away the belt Sai had on. She quite liked it and thought she could sling it around one of her grey dresses. There were tiny emerald rhinestones at places around the belt. Ino would be so pleased.)

Sai had also left his hair unbrushed (that, or he had mastered the delicate hairstyle that took an hour in front of the mirror just so he could pull off the "messy" look. Or the "just rolled out of bed" or "just had sex" look. Ino would know what to call it) and it flopped in front of his forehead and sometimes flowed into his inky black eyes. His lashes were so thick, that sometimes Sakura was tempted to ask him if he wore eyeliner. She couldn't tell one way or the other, and it never appeared to smear, so she was inclined to think it was just natural. But she stayed her tongue because she knew better than most how hesitant Sai was about everything he did. The nicknames, the outfits, the hair, the posture . . . they were all different ways in which Sai was trying to fit in with the crowd. It wasn't that he wanted to be normal, per say . . . just that he wanted to understand everyone else, even if that meant breaking them open at their most vulnerable and rarest to see what lay inside. Hence the self-help books on how other people ticked; hence the heavy-lidded eyes following not just Sakura around a room, but everyone else, taking note on their postures, being able to tell what they were unconsciously saying with how they tipped their hip against a counter, how they sat slumped in a chair and playing idly with a fork on the pristine white tablecloth . . . Everything was notarized and sealed inside Sai's head in carefully organized boxes, and sometimes Sakura wondered just how dangerous Sai really was.

Sai held the door open for Sakura, and it took her a moment to blink her eyes and get used to the darkness before she was through the hallway and into the flashing lights of the nightclub. Red and black all over. Like blood, like a fresh bruise with blood rushing up to meet skin. Sometimes Sakura couldn't decide if she liked it or not.

It was very, very crowded. Sakura was pushed and pulled through the crowd, and after getting her toes stepped on for the third time, she reached back and grabbed hold of Sai's jacket, pulling him with her to the back corner of the club. She wasn't interested in drinks.

A man got in her way and gazed down at her with unconcealed lust and intoxication, and Sakura sneered at him. His lips moved soundlessly, his words overrun with the beat and sway of the music around them that made it impossible for conversation. There was a mood heavy in the air that night that made it feel that that was exactly what meant to happen—it wasn't a night for talking.

Too bad, then, that that was exactly what Sakura had come there for.

Roughly moving her way around the man, Sakura yanked Sai behind her until she could feel him against her back. She had a moment of regret that she was manhandling him like this, but she didn't want to lose him in the crowd. For one, she knew it would be ridiculously difficult to find him again and she hadn't come there just to spend the night playing _Marco, Polo_ , but also because Sakura knew very well how Sai felt about overcrowded places and being alone, and putting those two things together just wasn't acceptable. That wasn't why she'd brought him with her.

Sakura found a spot near the back that at least had breathing space, and paused there with Sai. She finally looked back to see Sai gazing around the room with a tiny fake smile on his face, taking in everything and everyone in such a rapid succession that Sakura could see his black eyes dilate and flinch to everything around them. There was a thin line of sweat forming on his brow.

Sakura caught a spot of silver hair out of the corner of her eye, and her head wiped that way too quickly, a muscle popping in her neck painfully.

"Hidan!" she screamed, though the music was still too loud. She screamed his name again, and she saw his head whip up and to the side while his violet eyes scanned the room with a firm frown on his face.

When his eyes got over to her corner of the wall, the bodies packed so close together that Sai was knocked nearly right on top of her with a soft " _Oomph_ ," Hidan's eyes almost passed right over her. But then they flicked back and narrowed in on her pink head. Her hair _was_ kind of difficult to miss, even with the dim lighting and flashing strobe lights.

It took him a bit longer to get over to her. Hidan wasn't all that slim, and even with all his loud cursing and shoving people out of the way and exclaiming that "People need to fucking _move_ , for Christ's sake!" it was still a few more minutes of getting to watch the show that was Hidan's life before he nearly skidding right on top of her (again. Seriously, Sakura knew she was short and small, but this was ridiculous), and wrapped a possessive arm around her waist. For once, she didn't really mind.

Until she noticed the narrowed violet eyes on Sai. Sai, for once, kept his mouth shut, and Sakura could _see_ the wheels and cogs turning in his head as he came up with a suitable nickname for Hidan. Sakura prayed to Kami that she could stop Hidan from killing Sai when that moment happened—the man didn't take well to being smartassed, and Sai was the most smartass-y man she'd ever met.

"Bitch," Hidan scoffed in her ear, having to lean over her to be heard. "Where the _fuck_ have you been? You fucking _left_ me with stitch-face and the rest of these fucking dickheads. I deserve so much fucking compensation for the fucking hell you subjected me to." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, and if that wasn't enough to tip Sakura off to where his lewd mind was at, his cocky, over-zealous smirk would have done the trick.

"Mmm," Sakura murmured, patting him softly on his chest. "Did the big baby have to play with the grown-ups while I was away? So sorry for that, dearest—I'll make sure to buy you a drink later on."

Hidan's violet eyes widened comically, and Sakura had one of those glorious moments where she was sure she'd said the last thing Hidan had ever been expecting. But before he could come back with a refute, Sakura grabbed Sai's hand behind her and took a step back from Hidan's arms. "Hidan, this is Sai. Sai, this is Hidan. Please don't kill each other, and if you do, make sure not to leave bloodstains on the carpet, yeah? Far too messy, that."

Hidan eyed Sai and not-so-subtly scoffed. Sai just stared blankly and smiled his little fake smile, to which Hidan's eyebrow arched. Sakura swallowed a chuckle. She made a good choice in bringing Sai with her.

A pair of arms wrapped around her waist, bringing her back to rest on a solid chest. It took her a moment of panic and uncertainty to figure who it was, but since Hidan hadn't decapitated whoever it was that was touching her, Sakura figured it was one of the Akatsuki members.

Breath on her ear and a low voice gave away his identity next, and she hadn't even had to see the red hair.

"Doll-face," Sasori drawled. It was almost a purr. "It's been far too long. And you even wrapped yourself up in pretty clothes to come see me—I'm touched." He rubbed his face against her cheek, and Sakura was once again reminded of a cat.

"Sai," Sakura said, gesturing behind her to Sasori, "this is Sasori. Sasori, this—"

"Is Sai, I heard," Sasori finished, looking through half-hooded eyes as Sai just blinked at him. There was an awkward moment when no one said anything else, and Sakura tried to slowly pull away from Sasori's hold, but, alas, he only tightened his arms around her and the flow of bodies around them was too thick to get much space between any of them, anyways.

"Ugly," Sai started, and Sakura cursed the gods for what was likely about to happen. "You didn't tell me that one of your friends was a druggie."

There was another awkward pause, but this one ripe with tension. Sakura blinked, and had to take a moment to figure out of Sai was referring to Hidan—who had some wacked out violet eyes that were always jumping all over the place, who looked like he'd had one too many caffeinated drinks, and who perpetually had a shit-eating grin on his face—or Sasori, who just looked like your A-typical junky who spent all his days doing absolutely nothing and who would quite suddenly let out a remark about the wonders (or distaste) in life and have some grand epiphany about art and what it all meant to have an existential crisis.

(Oh, wait.

That was _exactly_ what he did.)

Sakura could also plainly see the moment when both Hidan and Sasori came to the realization that it was not them Sai was referring too, but the other. Hidan's shit-eating grin only widened and Sasori let out a soft chuckle next to her ear.

Sakura silently thanked Kami no blood had been spilt.

And then it seemed to compute in both Hidan's and Sasori's brains what Sai had just called her, and Sakura felt both of them immediately tense up and ready to defend her honor. Sai looked on amused and ignorant.

Sakura firmly, " _accidently_ " stepped down hard on Sasori's foot behind her, and he left out a pained yelp, drawing everyone's attention back to him and Sakura.

She smiled crookedly up at him. "Sorry," she said. "So, where's Deidara?"

Sasori immediately scoffed and nuzzled his face into her neck. Sakura shivered at the feeling of his hair tickling the sensitive skin below her ear. "The brat's having some fun over at the bar, flirting shamelessly with anything and everything female." One hand wrapped tighter around her waist. "See, pet? This is why I'm such a better match for you than that immature brat."

"Aren't you the one who plays with dolls?" Sai asked, and Sakura couldn't hold back the gasp/choke/chuckle that made its way out her throat. She choked silently on air.

Sasori just gazed out at Sai through half-lidded eyes, not smirking, and Sai tilted his head to the side with his little fake smile on while Hidan was hunched over, laughing and also choking on air.

(Well. It wasn't like the same thought hadn't crossed all their minds at some point or another.)

Sakura patted Sasori's hand in comfort and then skillfully disentangled her body from his limbs. She morphed her face into one of comfort and not one of pain at holding in her laughter. "I don't suppose Pein is here tonight?" she asked, even though she already knew the answer.

Sasori's eyelids drooped lower and his pretty little mouth twisted into a scowl. Sakura suddenly put her hands on his cheeks and pushed until it looked like he was smiling. Sasori's eyebrows were up to his hairline in surprise.

"Don't do that—your face is too pretty to sneer and it'll get stuck that way. And then Deidara would _really_ have a reason to call you an old man."

Sasori just blinked at her.

Sakura sighed. "Where is Pein?"

"Over here, Sakura-hime."

 _Figured he'd be right next to her._

Sakura rolled her eyes discreetly and turned on her heel to see Sai's body turned just the smallest fraction to his left, looking over at the pierced owner and leader of the Akatsuki. He looked just as Sakura remembered him too—all gleaming silver piercings and bright grey eyes. Sometimes it hurt just a little too much to look straight at him, like looking in the sun for too long, and that night that feeling was especially prominent.

Pein gazed down at her—curse her height and the choice to not wear kitten heels—and without turning to look at Hidan, said, "Why don't you take Sakura-hime's friend over to get a drink from the bar; I'm sure you can find Deidara somewhere and introduce him around."

Sakura's eyes flicked back to Sai, and she was marginally surprised to see his tense frame. It wasn't much—just rigid shoulders and the smallest of wrinkles appearing at the corners of his eyes, but Sakura caught it. She caught it and didn't like it _._

She moved her eyes back over to Pein quickly though, in case she was caught staring for too long at Sai. Something was going on behind her, near the stage the Uchiha strip show had been at some time ago, and there was a smattering of clapping and hoots and hollers from men and women alike from that part of the room. Sakura didn't look.

Sakura flicked her eyes over to the private rooms, and Pein took her by the waist and led her over to the same room she had seen him, Madara, Kisame, Itachi, and Kakuzu at one point or another. They seemed to have put their seal on it as their own.

"Sakura-hime," Pein began the moment the curtain closed behind them and the noise died down enough from the club that they could hear each other without screaming. For the first time, Sakura thought the curtains must be made out of something near to soundproof, and made a note to ask one of the members of the Akatsuki about it at a later time.

Sakura sat down at the far end of the booth and clasped her hands in her lap underneath the table. "Is everyone here tonight?" she asked, stopping Pein from continuing whatever he was going to say.

He stared at her for a moment, then nodded slowly. "I believe so." He moved to slide into the booth across from her and placed his hands on top of the table, folded over each other. Sakura eyed the ring he wore on his thumb, the one with the kanji on it. It gleamed in the light above, and Sakura for the first time wondered what it meant.

"It's been a month," Pein said, but instead of sounding like an accusation, it was just a statement. "I'd almost given up hope."

"Hope? For what?"

"Forgiveness."

A corner of Sakura's mouth quirked up. "You didn't need my forgiveness, Pein. You needed my trust again."

Pein lowered his eyelids so he was looking at her through his too long lashes. Sakura had always had the thought how it was so unfair that men like Pein could be so much prettier than her at times, especially in this kind of low lighting and all gleaming piercings and tight black clothes. She suddenly understood the term _butterfly lashes_.

"It was never my intent to lose it in the first place."

Sakura did smile at him then, softly and a little more than sadly. "No, I doubt that you would ever have intended for that. But you did, anyways, even though I get why you did what you did. It just hurt, you know? But," she said, flicking one of her own rings around her forefinger, "I'm over it now. I just needed some time by myself first."

Pein was leaning against the booth so lazily, so calmly that it could only ever be a façade. While Sakura knew better than most that she still was not privy to a good deal about Pein, she did understand his postures at this point. She understood his locked jaw and flat palms on the table, like he was ready to move, to react at any time.

She leaned across the table and lightly touched a finger to the back of his right hand. Pein went very still. "I'm over it, Pein," she said again, slowly, looking straight into his eyes to make sure he understood she was serious.

"I haven't done anything to deserve your trust again." He was staring at her hand, touching his.

She shrugged. "I know you well enough to trust you inexplicably, even at times like this. And I know that you'd move Heaven and Hell for me. So. There's that."

Quicker than she could catch, Pein flipped his palm over and caught her fingers in a light enough grip that she could pull away if she wanted to. He lifted her hand up and leaned forward to graze the back of her knuckles with a kiss. "I will not misplace your trust again, my Sakura-hime."

She gave his hand a squeeze, then leaned back and folded her arms across her chest and crossed her legs. "So, who should I talk to first? I was thinking Itachi, based on his reaction the last time I saw him, but you've seen everyone more than I have lately."

The corners of Pein's mouth turned up, just slightly enough to show amusement. "Leaving me so soon after searching for me, Sakura-hime? I'm slightly insulted."

Sakura snorted. "You'll live."

Pein rapped his knuckles on the table for a moment before saying, "Itachi would be good, actually. I can go fetch him for you, if you like?"

He was already up and moving out of the seat before she started nodding, and out through the curtain he went. Sakura blinked, and was alone in the private booth for the first time.

Forgiving someone like Pein was startling easy for Sakura. He was not a trustworthy man, not by any stretch of the imagination, and yet Sakura knew he would never harm her nor misplace her trust easily. This had all been a mistake from the very beginning. Pein was not supposed to be the one to break her trust in him and the Akatsuki, and yet he was the one to take the fall for it.

But letting it go had been surprisingly simple. Sakura hadn't had to think twice about it, and seeing him again after a month was like slipping on an old pair of comfortable and well-worn shoes.

She lightly traced over her left hand, where a thin scar had stayed since her attack. She wasn't all that surprised she was left with a memento for the attack like this. There had been so many scratch marks on her hands and arms that at least a few were likely to leave a lasting imprint. But the one on her left hand that extended from the end of her thumb to a little past her palm was the one most noteworthy. It was smooth and straight, and every time she saw it when she looked down or when she washed her hands or when she typed on her laptop, she was thankful to have a physical reminder.

Sakura wondered if that was wrong of her—to _like_ that she was left with a scar like this. That it was something she could look at and remember, and say that it wasn't only her nightmares that were her unwanted guests from the attack. That she could point at it and say how it happened. Not that she was about to talk about it with many people—if _any_ people.

It was a reminder that for a split second, she felt helpless, but she was still okay, still alive, still a virgin, because there was _so_ _many_ worse things than dying. It was a reminder not to buy into the bullshit the therapist Naruto and Sasuke had forced her to go to for a handful of appointments about how brave she was, how she was strong enough to overcome an experience like that, how it was a war wound, a testament to her bravery. _Bullshit._ If anything, the scar was a testament to the evil in the world, and how you could be trained and skilled and know every safety trick and self-defense move and still be caught off guard long enough for something like this to happen. This wasn't about _bravery_ or _courage_ or _strength_. This was about fucking _bad luck._ How a girl could do everything right and still have something like this happen to her.

Sakura almost screamed when her mother called her after the attack, and one of the first things she said to Sakura—after her mother did the accurate amount of thanking God that she was alright and asking her a million times how bad her injuries were—was demanding to know how _stupid_ Sakura could be to make a mistake of this catastrophe. How _dare_ she walk to her car in the dark because didn't she know that there are rapist everywhere? Didn't her mother raise her smart enough to know better? Didn't her mother give her an alarm to attach to her keychain when she was fifteen, and why didn't she use it? Didn't Sakura remember the talk her mother gave her at thirteen about date rape drugs and how to hold her drink correctly so that boys couldn't slip her something? Didn't she remember to pee her pants when something like this happened, because apparently peeing your pants was enough to make your attacker change their mind? Didn't she remember to be _smart_? Sakura should have screamed more. Sakura should have called for help and was Sakura dressing a certain way? Was that why this happened? Were her clothes too tight?

(Because that would make a _fucking_ difference. In a sense, Sakura was a little shocked her mother hadn't just come out and asked her if she had gone off the deep end since she'd left home and was dressing slutty and, ya know, this wouldn't have happened if she'd just carried pepper spray in her pocket.)

Because for however much this made Sakura a victim, she was still somehow stupid for allowing this to happen. If the correct steps were followed for women and girls to be safe, this would never have happened. Because the mere idea that all the " _correct_ " ways to be safe were followed and something like this _still_ happened, something like this almost happened, would be far too terrifying to comprehend.

So, yes, Sakura was damn glad for the physical scar. It didn't remind her how strong or brave she was; it reminded her how perfect she could try to be and still have shit happen to her, and that was alright so long as she made sure that the worse thing left afterwards was just a smooth scar on her thumb.

* * *

Itachi walked in about ten minutes after Pein left, and Sakura was a little surprised to see how dark his eyes were, and how flecks of red were dotted around his irises.

"Hey," she breathed.

Instead of sliding into the opposite side of the booth like Pein had, Itachi came right up to Sakura and kneeled down in front of her. Sakura was so shocked that she didn't react when Itachi lifted his hand to brush against her check, her jaw, and then down to her hands where they were clamped together. He detangled her fingers and immediately locked onto the scar on her thumb that she had been running a finger along. He rubbed his own fingers over it, tracing it from the end of her thumb to the center of her palm.

"Does it hurt?" he breathed, and Sakura realized that they were both breathing too softly, and that their pulses were going too fast, and she was slightly ditzy.

"No." The lights were dim, and when Itachi locked eyes with her, Sakura almost regretting distancing herself for so long from these men. Almost.

Sakura cleared her throat, but let Itachi keep her hand, making soothing strokes along the center of her palm. She wondered if it was just a devious method to check her for any lingering pain or injuries, but either way, she let him keep her hands in his.

She thought about how Itachi wasn't asking her or berating her about what had happened or what her choices were after the matter. She thought about how she wasn't tired anymore, and how the sounds outside the club were in the back of her skull and the thudding of her heart was out of connotation with the beat of the music, and, _oh God_ , this was why she'd had to distance herself from these men. She thought about how they say the eyes were the windows to the soul, but really they're just the windows to the brain, the frontal lobe and beyond. But—Kami above—if there was ever a way for someone like Sakura to be able to bottle little things like this—like Itachi's eyes when his posture and facial expressions were so stoic, but his eyes anything but—and keep that little bottle with her to take out and taste every so often, on the bad days, like a memory charm, she'd bottle Itachi's eyes and Hidan's sass and Pein's quirk of a grin and Kisame's understanding of all things and Shisui's playfulness . . . And God help her, but she'd sell her soul for those things.

(Though it could be argued, even, that the soul was already made up of those little things, every little thing that made living meaningful, and the times when she felt weak or drained of living, then it was like a parched drain, ready to be filled up again.)

Sakura was so tired of being drained.

 _"_ _It hurt me, you know, when I found out that my own daughter hadn't thought to call her own mother when she's hurt," her mother huffed through the phone. Sakura had regretted picking up the phone the second she had, but it was too late now to hang up without making the situation worse. Her mother had been calling Kushina almost nonstop and refused to believe her when she was told that Sakura was fine, that the situation was being dealt with, that Minato had pulled strings and everything legally—and some not-so-legally, though it was never quite said in so many words—was being done._

 _Sakura's own phone had been ringing for quite some time before she finally made herself pick it up. In a way, she considered herself lucky that her mother hadn't shown up on her doorstep yet, and Sakura had already spent the last few minutes arguing with her mother that she was not required to alert her mother every time something happened to her. She was an adult now, and she could handle these kinds of things on her own._

 _(What was not being said was that her mother was the last person alive that she wanted to talk to about these things—talk to about anything, really—and that if Sakura could barely manage to pull together a few sentences to talk to Naruto and Sasuke about what had happened, what the hell was she going to be able to say to her mother?)_

 _(It also went without saying that contrary to her mother's fantasy, speaking to her did not, in fact, make her feel any better about the situation, but only made her feel a thousand times worse.)_

 _But that day Sakura had finally made herself pick up the phone, if for no other reason than to prevent the threats her mother had left on her voicemail about showing up on her doorstep. She sorely regretted that decision. The guilt was already knotting itself in her gut, and no matter how many times Sakura repeated to herself that she had done nothing wrong, she was still in a fragile state of mind and her emotional blocks were in shatters from too many nights of insomnia and for the few times she had slept, nightmares had taken every last bit of strength out of her._

 _It was funny how her subconscious was more affected about the situation than she was in her awake mind, like it was a ringing reminder of what really happened, and no amount of built up walls of resolve kept it down for long. The feelings grated down into her skull and into her dreams until she was more made up of the memories and fear and little whispers inside her subconscious than she was of blood and bone._

 _"_ _I was a little preoccupied, Mother," Sakura said._

 _"_ _Not too preoccupied not to give your mother a five minute phone call, or even a text that you're alright," her mother said._ No _, Sakura thought._ There is no such thing as _just_ a five minute phone call with you.

 _"_ _What were you even_ thinking _, walking alone at that time of night?" she went on. "It's lucky that that professor of yours was around to hear you, isn't it? Just thinking about what could have happened scares me."_

 _Sakura traced the scar on her thumb over and over, rubbing her nail along the edge almost painfully. She pressed her lips together and waited._

 _"_ _You've taken all those self-defense classes all these years and . . . and didn't those help at all?" Sakura had not told her mother the details of what occurred that night. Nothing but the bare minimum. Nothing about the holding of her attacker down, nothing about the way she felt the pure rush of adrenaline in her veins when she held him down, down, down, just like he had wanted to do to her. Nothing about the scratches that had to be bandaged along her hands and arms, and how there were some days that Sakura woke up and just_ knew _she couldn't be strong that day, and so she had to call for Naruto or Sasuke to help her to do fickle, mundane things like tie her shoes or help her dress. How sometimes she couldn't hold a glass without it shaking so much she had to put it down or risk dropping it._

 _No, her mother didn't need to know any of that._

 _Sakura sighed. "He didn't rape me, now did he? I think that's enough proof that those self-defense classes did me some good." This was one of those bad days._

 _Sometimes Sakura wasn't sure if her inability on those bad days was due to the physical ache she sometimes got in her hands or if it was more due to her new mental and emotional scars. She highly suspected both._

 _"_ _We should just be glad he was stopped before he could," her mother said. "I wonder why you, though, you know? There had to be other girls walking to their cars that night, and how did no one see this man? I've always said that the campus security was lacking—"_

 _Sakura sounded the rest out. Really, she just wasn't interested in what her mother had to say._

 _Sasuke walked through the door, then, and looked over at Sakura, who was perched on the end of the couch in the living room with Blue at her feet. Blue lifted his head and skidded over to where Sasuke was still by the door, wagging his tail and whining loudly until Sasuke bent down to pet him and gave him the attention he'd been deprived of that day. Sasuke's eyes never left hers._

 _Sakura mouthed "Mom," and Sasuke nodded._

 _"—_ _could press charges against the school, I think. Sakura, are you listening to me?"_

 _"_ _Of course I am. But, Mom, I really need to go; I still have homework I need to get done and—"_

 _"_ _Tell me you're not going to classes right now." It wasn't actually a question, so Sakura didn't answer. "Sakura," her mother's voice lowered and mellowed out, "are you taking your medicine?"_

 _Sakura swallowed. This wasn't any of her business. This wasn't any of her business. She did not have to answer this question. She didn't, but instead she said, "Yeah," like it was nothing at all._

 _She thought about the bottles of prescription medicine in her cabinet in her bathroom. She thought about the Lamictal and Xanex and other mood stabilizers._

 _A few years ago, when Sakura had been going to therapy and starting and stopping and trying so, so many different medications to see what would work, what_ could _even work, she had also been given a prescription for Xanex. Xanex was wonderful, but addicting. So Sakura horded it and saved it for a rainy day when things got too bad to deal with, and there it had sat for some time without her ever touching it. She'd weaned herself off of Lamictal a few years prior, and had stayed off._

 _She was back on Lamictal now, 150 mg._

 _Her doctor had given her a new prescription for Xanex as well, so now Sakura had even more in her medicine cabinet. And she was needed it more and more every day. It wasn't bad enough for Sakura to worry, and she had been told and knew enough about her body to understand its limits. She wasn't worried about that._

 _So there was nothing wrong with her taking the mediation, she told herself, even as her mother did a meaningful pause that said enough on its own, and then said out loud, "Just be careful. Are you taking the Xanex, too? Don't let yourself take it every day, okay? That stuff's_ very _addicting." Like she didn't know that. Like she hadn't taken a pre-pharmacy class and like she wasn't an adult who could manage her own medication._

 _It irked Sakura at times how her mother expected her to tell her everything still. How she acted entitled to know the medications Sakura was on. But Sakura also told her mother when asked, so it was her fault, too._

 _Sasuke was in the kitchen by then, and Sakura could hear him clanging glasses around and heard Blue's nails hitting the tiles with a repetitive_ click, click, click _. Sakura thought Sasuke might be giving Blue treats, and the mere thought almost made her break out into a fit of giggles._

 _She was never going to let him live that one down._

 _"_ _You should've called me," her mother went on, and Sakura sighed loudly. "I worry."_

 _"_ _I was preoccupied with dealing with myself, Mother," Sakura snapped. "I didn't have time to think about calling you or Dad yet. You would have hovered and worried and not been able to do any gosh darn thing about the situation, and that would have killed you."_

 _"_ _I'm your mother," she said with enthuses, like Sakura could ever forget that little fact. "I have every right to worry—it's what I do."_ Don't I know it, _she thought bitterly._

 _"_ _I'm twenty-one," Sakura shot back. "I can take care of myself, and I have Naruto and Sasuke here to help me."_

 _"_ _Maybe you should take a Xanex, sweetheart," her mother cooed. "It sounds like you might need it."_

 _Sakura didn't pause to consider what she'd just said—it was typically easier to analyze later when her mother wasn't around to hear. There was a muffled and hurried "I have to go," and some kind of excuse and a quick "I love you" from her mother that Sakura did not return, and hung up._

 _Sasuke came out of the kitchen, and it occurred to Sakura that she'd been sitting there, on the end of the couch, staring down at what must had appeared to be her phone, but was really her hands and the scar she had understood at some point in the healing process that she was going to have._

 _She looked at him and smiled, and he blinked at her. She asked if he was cooking that night, to which he nodded. Sakura then got up and left with the excuse to go do homework._

 _She took another Xanex instead._

Sakura had taken half a Xanex that night, before she stepped foot in _Red Dawn_. She wondered if Pein or Itachi noticed. Then decided she didn't much care if they did.

She wanted her bottle of memories. She wanted shelves and shelves and shelves full of them, little and big and oddly shaped and color coated—she wanted it all.

"I missed you guys," Sakura said, lowly. Itachi's hands tightened around hers, and he didn't let go right away.

But then Sakura slid a flash drive out of her pocket and placed it in Itachi's hand. He looked at it, then looked back up at her, a question in his eyes.

"Orochimaru," she simply said. Itachi's expression shuttered. "That's who you're all messed with, right? That's who, I'm guessing, sent that man after me. Not to kill me, I don't think, but to send you all a message in the form of a broken girl."

She watched his throat bob, and smiled a little grimly. "Pein didn't want to tell me, I don't think. But for him to give me as much protection as he has this past month, it wasn't hard to guess. You all should really try to find less obvious bodyguards for me, by the way—those two men stick out like sore thumbs," she continued, referring to the two men who'd been following her discretely. To be fair, they actually weren't half bad, but Sakura's past with having to be aware of a flying Madara coming straight for her and trying to embrace her or Shisui trying to follow her into the hospital and go incognito as a random patient tended to train a person to be acutely aware when other's weren't.

There was also the fact that Sakura had seen the two men in question the last time she had seen Pein in _Red Dawn_ a month ago. Guess she'd gotten her answer on why they were there and wouldn't look her in the eye.

"They could have wanted to harm you," Itachi said.

Sakura scoffed. "Yeah, and then Kakashi would have shown up with porn book in hand and probably killed them himself." Kakashi and she had oddly been able to form a kind of bond with each other in the last month, mostly because he refused to stop keeping an eye on her and Sakura refused to pretend not to notice him when he continued to read porn in public, even going so far as to not even hold in his giggles every few seconds. (Also, and Sakura would never admit it, but there were times when she couldn't figure out where he was following her when she knew he was, and that unsettled her more than a bit.)

Itachi cocked his head at her and a corner of his mouth quirked up a bit. "Has my foolish little brother been giving you trouble?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow at him. "You mean has he been even more overprotective? Yes, but so has Naruto, naturally. But not annoyingly so." _Most of the time, at least._

Itachi nodded. Sakura noticed that the red spots in his eyes were gone, though she wasn't sure when that had happened, since she'd been looking at him the whole time. "We'll get better trained men to follow you next time," he promised.

Sakura just rolled her eyes.

Itachi was wearing some sort of cologne, she noticed then. It was musky and richly dark, and Sakura made a conscious effort not to inhale too sharply. Sakura had a few weaknesses, and one of those included good smelling cologne on men. Itachi was wearing one such cologne. Her cheek twitched, and it was just strong enough to bury itself underneath her skin and bleed into her veins, and she loved it.

If Itachi noticed her twitch, he didn't show it.

"I should go find Sai," Sakura said abruptly. "I don't particularly trust Pein or Hidan not to kill him. Or manipulate him."

"Ah," Itachi agreed reluctantly. He stood and held out a hand for Sakura to take. It would have been rude to refuse it, so she took it and let him hook her arm through his and led her out of the private room, weaving expertly through the club until they were at the bar, where Sai was with Hidan and Deidara, not unsurprisingly.

What was surprising, however, was Sai tripping over his own feet and glaring halfheartedly at both Hidan and Deidara as both morons were hunched over the bar table, laughing at something neither Itachi nor Sakura were privy to just yet.

Sakura unhooked her arm from Itachi's and went over to stand by Sai, grabbing his arm gently. He looked down at her in surprise, and then continued to blink at her rapidly like he was trying to remember who she was, and if, in fact, she was a hallucination or not.

Sakura turned her head to glare at Hidan and Deidara, who were just now noticing her presence near Sai and Itachi's smirking presence beside them.

"Sakura-chan!" Deidara exclaimed, holding out both arms like he was somehow expecting her to fly into them. She raised an eyebrow. "You came, yeah!"

Hidan snorted crudely. "Not yet, she hasn't." He licked his lips at her.

Everyone ignored him.

"Uglyyy," Sai slurred.

"It's only been half an hour," Sakura growled. "How did you even manage this?" There were no questions as to what, exactly, " _this"_ pertained to.

Deidara snorted, his arms now lowered as her reaction was not the one he desired. "Sakura-chan, we were only trying to get him to lower his guard a little bit, yeah. Nothing unpleasant happened."

She glared. "Nothing _unpleasant_? What do you call getting him drink off his ass when he is obviously a ridiculous lightweight, huh?"

"We didn't know that, yeah!"

She rolled her eyes and looked back to Sai. "How do you feel, Sai?"

He was still blinking down at her. "Your hair is . . . _pink_." He then started to giggle uncontrollably. Sakura was torn on either to back away slowly or tighten her grip on his arm and get him out of there. She saw Hidan take a slow step backwards out of the corner of her eye, a look of weary on his face at the normally stoic Sai giggling like Kakashi with his porn book.

"Right," Sakura said simply. "It _is_ very pink, isn't it?"

"Pink, blue, and orange," Sai giggled. "One hell of an ugly rainbow!"

Sai, apparently, was a very vocal drunk.

"I think it's time to go home now," Sakura said slowly.

Sai moved out of her grip and wagged a finger in her face. "Nuh-uh, Uglyyy. No ugly rainbow time." He paused, sway slightly on his feet. His face broke out into an ear-splitting grin then, and everyone took an instinctual step back.

Suddenly, Sai lunged for Sakura, and she was too confused to move at first. Sai planted one very sloppy kiss on her cheek and then ran off into the crowd, yelling about rainbows and paint shops and horrible animal names. Sakura chose not to take it personally.

She turned back to Hidan and Deidara slowly, her face blank. "What the hell did you two give him?" she demanded, trying to be angry, but mostly amused.

Hidan grinned lecherously at her. "A little of this, a little of that, baby. Want some?" He held up a colorful drink to her.

Sakura just raised an eyebrow at him and sidestepped Deidara, who had lunged at her. "That bastard kissed you, yeah!" He was trying to viciously scrub at her cheek with the sleeve of his jacket. Sakura noticed that Deidara was not too steady on his feet, either.

Sakura made a side-note to ask Karin what she was putting in her drinks, and then ask for some of it for the times she needed to prank Naruto or Sasuke. Or maybe just run some toxicology experiments on the two morons. She was sure they'd be more fun for Blue to have in such a state.

She looked at Deidara, who was grinning stupidly at her. She sighed and held out her arms silently.

Deidara, quick on the uptake, grabbed her faster than what should be possible and immediately cut off her oxygen supply with his hug. "Yes, yes, I missed you too," she mumbled into his jacket. Deidara just made cooing noises.

"Hey, Blondie!" Hidan yelled then. "Get your hands off the fucking bitch!" He made eye-contact with Sakura and pouted. "You didn't even fucking hug me, damnit!"

"You nearly _tackled_ me," Sakura argued.

"Yeah, but not with your fucking permission!"

Sakura wondered when getting her permission for being lifted off her feet in an embrace suddenly mattered to Hidan . . . or any of these men, honestly.

She twisted out of Deidara's never ending embrace and asked, as emotionless as possible, "So, where's Shuisi?" simply because she already kind of knew, but was hoping to be proven wrong.

Itachi smirked. "Where else, sweetheart?"

Sakura groaned. "Why do you guys let him do that? You have to know it's only going to end badly."

Itachi gave a nonchalant shrug of one shoulder. "It brings in good money for the club, which Kakuzu would never give up. And it's not just Shisui."

Sakura closed her eyes in defeat. "No."

"Ah."

"You've _got_ to be kidding me. How could this possible be a good idea for _anyone_? Idiots, fucking idiots, all of you. " Sakura continued to mutter to herself as she made her way over to the stage of which Bad Things Have Happened Upon.

She cringed when she got to the part of a nearly impenetrable crowd of women at the foot of the stage. She knew better now, though, and didn't attempt to push her way to the front.

If Madara had attempted to give Tobi " _apple juice_ " again, there would be blood. And Sakura would not be held responsible.

Madara was, in fact, the first one she saw on the stage, his wide mane of hair twirling and twisting everywhere as he worked the stripper pole. Sakura groaned in horror as he was only in his ridiculously tight pants. Sakura made sure not to make eye-contact.

An arm slide around her waist, and Sakura jumped in surprise. Shisui chuckled next to her ear. "Expecting someone else, baby?" Sakura sputtered in indignation at being sneaked up on and scaring her like that.

But he just buried his nose in her hair, and Sakura felt him breath deep. "God, I missed your smell." His nose traveled lower on her neck. "I missed your skin, too, and your small frame in my arms." He grazed his teeth over the skin under her ear, and Sakura stifled a gasp. She did not, however, attempt to get out of his grip, even though it was loose enough that she knew she could without much effort.

She twisted her neck to see his black, curly hair and sharp teeth out of the corner of her eye. "You scared me," she huffed.

He laughed. "Sorry, baby—couldn't resist the temptation. It's been too long." There was the subtle tone of agony in his voice at that, and Sakura felt a shock of guilt sweep through her gut. She swallowed and pushed the feeling down, still knowing she was entitled to doing what she did and refusing to feel too guilty about it.

She kept her face turned towards Shisui, so she could speak easier to him without the noise. "I gave Itachi a flash drive with some information on it about Orochimaru," she said plainly. To Shisui's credit, he did not tense up right away, but merely buried his face deeper into her hair.

"You know," he stated.

She nodded. "Not everything, I'm sure, but yes, most of it I do know now."

"I'm sorry."

She shrugged and lowered her eyes to focus on the silver buttons of Shiusi's shirt. "Doesn't matter now. I know, and that's what matters," she muttered.

"What's on the flash drive?" he asked.

"I know you're the . . . runner, I suppose?" she stumbled over what to call Shisui's position, ignoring his question for the time being. She had hinted to Itachi when they were leaving the private room that they would discuss Orochimaru and the flash drive with the others at a later date.

"I . . . make transactions for the Akatsuki," Shisui said, cautiously. "I make sure purchases and trades work out. Itachi and I both do that. But I usually am the one carrying the merchandise and run out to meet the buyer or seller while Itachi makes sure no one else interferes."

Sakura nodded, but Shisui went on. "I've done horrible things, Sakura. You need to understand that we're not . . . _good_ people. We're—"

"I get it, Shisui. You don't need to explain—"

"No, no, I _do_. Don't you get it? I've killed people, Sakura," he said, and there was no tremble in his voice, no sign of weakness or regret.

"I don't care."

He paused. Took a breath. "You don't _understand_ —it wasn't honorable, it wasn't in self-defense or—"

"I don't care," she repeated, softly, so Shisui had to strain to hear her calm yet hard tone.

She thought again about hands around a pale throat and squeezing and blood and scars on hands and had already come to the consensus within herself that she just didn't care what Shisui's or anyone else's within the Akatsuki sins were. She didn't care how many people they had harmed or killed or tortured to get where they were today, because when she thought about how she fought off the man in the dirt parking lot she felt more often than not regret over not what happened, but at the fact that Kakashi interfered when he did and she hadn't gotten the chance to just _keep going_ , keep squeezing.

She wondered what that made her.

"Whatever you've done, there was a reason. Whether that reason was justified doesn't really matter to me right now. Because I'm going to go ahead and guess that these killings or other sins you think you've committed weren't as black or white as you're making them out to be." She looked back up at him, still not meeting his eyes because of how they were positioned, but maybe eye-contact wasn't what was needed at that moment, for this kind of conversation.

"And even if you've committed the most horrific of sins before—it doesn't matter. Because you're not a bad person, you're not a vindictive person. You don't run experimental testing on unwilling, _alive_ subjects in your free time just because you feel like it, like some Nazi doctor in a concentration camp." Her throat closed up. They both knew what she was talking out.

"And if I have to choose between you and whatever sins you've committed and _that_ , then I don't have to think twice. Because whatever evil you think you are cannot be anything compared to what I'm guessing would have happened if you hadn't done the things you have, hadn't chosen this path, painful though it may be."

She turned in his arms then, making sure he was looking her straight in the eye, making sure he understand without words that she wasn't an innocent person either, that she understood enough about his character and had enough of an idea of what he'd done to take her seriously. "I love you the way you are, shattered ends and all, and you cannot tell me anything to change that."

And, oh God, Shisui smiled at her then, one of his crooked grins, and he just looked so wreaked, so _gutted_ in that moment, and Sakura felt sick to her stomach at the glimpse behind the mask of Shisui the prankster, Shisui the fun loving, Shisui the black sheep of the Uchiha family. She knew what was there already, had seen glimpses in the past, but it really hit her then, slithered underneath her defenses and took home in her ribcage as a dull _thud_.

She mentally bottled that moment up to make sure she would never forget what Shisui tried so hard to hide from everyone, even his cousins. _Especially_ his cousins. Because baring your soul, faults and sins and damnations and all, was not pretty nor was it fun, and doing it with the wrong person could destroy the barer.

"I've tortured people," Shiusi said softly, like he was trying to ease her into it. "Not because I had to, but because I wanted to . . . I was so _angry_ when I heard about what happened to you and . . . and I don't think you understand that. I don't think you understand the levels I've gone to to ensure my family's safety and prestige. I had a _choice_ , Sakura. I wasn't ordered to do a lot of things I've done—I just did them because I _could_."

"Alright."

"I—" he stuttered off. "You don't get it, you don't get it." He sighed, and his shoulders fell, and Sakura could see the mental walls going back up even stronger than before.

"Look at the flash drive I gave Itachi," she said slowly. Shisui's head shot up at the sudden turn in conversation. "See that, and then tell me I don't get it."

* * *

Author's Note: DUN DUN DUN. Hope ya'll enjoyed that. (Yes, yes, I'm well aware how late this is. I apologize. However, I have an excuse called physics. Yes. Physics. Horrid class. I'm just trying to survive, ya'll.)

Things are kinda heating up. I'd just like ya'll to know that this was so not how I had planned this story to go. (To be fair, I never plan any of my stories out, LOL.) But then sometimes I just start writing and it just hits me, ya know? Like the end of this chapter. I was not planning that scene with Shisui, but I love the guy so much I couldn't resist. There will be interactions with all members of the Akatsuki and Uchihas in this chapter and the next chapter, and, yes, that does include Zetsu, sly motherfucker he is. He does play a rather critical role in all this, short and sparse though his scenes may be.

On a side note, I've gotten just a littttlllleee obsessed with Harry Potter fanfics. I know, I know, I'm just getting into that, right? I mean, Harry Potter fanfics was like the beginning for most people, and I'm just getting into it now. But I gotta say I have a new level of appreciation for the series after all the fanfics I've read now. (Especially the Hermione and Draco fanfics, of course. ;P)

I also kinda really hate Ron, hate to say it. Never really liked him, but hated him when he left Harry and Hermione in the Forest of Dean and then when those two ended up together. Even if she didn't end up with Harry, I never thought it should have been Ron. He just never seemed to grow up for her, ya know? (Also, I've discovered Blaise Zabini. Good Lord, that man. He's one of those side characters that you just seriously grow to love.) I've also come to the realization that Tom Riddle is the saddest human being ever and I even got into some Tom Riddle and Hermione fics accidentally, and (surprisingly), they can be really, really good. (Though some of them are just plain creepy and disgusting, I do have to include. That pairing can be seriously dark, ya'll.) So, as always, if you have recommendations for me to read, both Harry Potter and Naruto related fanfics, message me and let me know. The only exception is SakuraxSasuke and HermionexRon. I can't deal with those two pairings, so please spar me that.

Until next time~

(Whenever that is.)


	9. Chapter 9

Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

 **A WEEK OR SO EARLIER**

 _It started with porn._

 _Mostly, it started with Kakashi, but porn and Kakashi simply went hand-in-hand, and Sakura wasn't about to nitpick._

 _It was that little orange book she always saw him have. It was small for a book, only about two-thirds the size of a normal paperback, and much smaller than some hardbacks she'd seen before. Sometimes, Kakashi would put in a half-hearted attempt to hide what the book was by placing another book cover over it, but mostly that was in the presence of Yamato, and even then it was a half-assed effort._

 _Bright orange, though. Really, was there any other color that could draw a person's eyes as easy as neon orange? Sakura didn't think so, and she'd been around Naruto and his neon orange jackets far, far too long to think otherwise. Orange was for a certain kind of person, someone sun-bright and loud as hell, someone with a persona like Naruto._

 _Orange, apparently, was also the go-to color for porn books. Or, "mature fiction" books, as Kakashi was constantly correcting her. (Really, was there a difference?)_

 _Which didn't make sense that Sakura was having a difficult time not always noticing when Kakashi was following her. At first, she thought she was imagining the feeling of being watched, that slight itch behind her eyes, but Sakura had been on high alert since her attack in the dirt parking lot two weeks ago, and she wasn't really one to ignore her instincts._

 _But it always just seemed to be Kakashi, who would pop out of nowhere when she felt that itch behind her eyes, offering to walk her to class, talk to her as she waited in line to order her coffee. And he always had that ugly little orange book in hand, not even trying to hide it away._

 _It bothered Sakura. Not that he read his "adult literature," but because someone carrying a neon orange book like that, wearing a black scarf covering half his face and white hair sticking up every which way should really stick out among people in a crowd. But Kakashi didn't. He blended right in like it was nothing, and no one even gave him any weird looks about his appearance unless he was talking to Sakura and drawing attention to himself._

 _It irked Sakura. She knew what to look for in a crowd, and yet a lot of the time she never saw Kakashi until he wanted her to. And if his little eye crinkle was anything to go by, he knew it._

 _He had first started to truly inundate himself in her life the day after her little meeting with Pein at_ Red Dawn _, and while Sakura didn't think Kakashi was privy to details of what happened, he was smart enough to fill in the blanks of the important parts._

 _And, oh, was he smart. It took Sakura a bit to really figure it out, and mostly she had taken things at face value, at how Kakashi would lean back in his seat and kick his feet up on a desk during lectures and let Professor Yamato do all the work, only throwing tidbits out when it suited him as almost a reminder that, yes, he was actually supposed to be teaching and not letting Professor Yamato do all the work._

 _But once Sakura began to grudgingly accept his presence in her life (whether she liked it or not), and began to have actually conversations with the man, Sakura was smacked in the face with Kakashi's ability to turn all her long held ideas and thoughts upside down. They debated on the pros and cons of gene splitting and animal cloning and everything near and dear to her heart._

 _It seemed to Sakura that Kakashi did not, in fact, have true opinions on anything. He simply threw out arguments and theories and underhanded remarks about the topics they conversed about and made Sakura_ think _. Really think. They had discussions that most professors would never dare get into with a student, if for no other reason than to prevent any offense being taken and because holding differential opinions on almost anything would prove to start an argument, and then an argument would start a heated, angry battle of wills of both parties because it appeared that no one in the world could take and coddle an opinion not their own anymore. Everything was offensive. Everything was held back with too tight grins and beaded eyes, and Sakura had never been one to hold things back._

 _Neither, it appeared, did Kakashi._

 _Kakashi was not so much interested in changing Sakura's opinions on things so much as making her think in new lights. He gave her pieces of research and other findings in the world at large and asked her opinion. If she didn't have one on the matter, okay, they moved on. Sometimes Sakura would ask Kakashi his own opinion on things, and sometimes (though rarely) would he indulge her and weigh the pros and cons on medical treatments and researches that many scientists and doctors in the departments responsible would scoff at or have a mere aneurism over, if only spoken in hushed tones in their presence._

 _Kakashi was not afraid to offend Sakura. And she was not afraid to offend Kakashi. They did, however, get into debates about many, many things. Though they never led to getting offended, but left Sakura's mind whirling about new topics that she'd always taken for granted and at face value before._

 _She also knew that was exactly what Kakashi wanted to happen._

 _It began slowly, as all things did, with Sakura beginning to ask the correct questions at the right times, and she slowly—ever so slowly—watched the spark in Kakashi's eyes flash before her, more and more._

 _Maybe he was always gearing her up for this, she wondered. It wouldn't surprise her._

 _Over coffee dates and short walks to classes (made longer by both unconsciously taking the longer routes), Sakura and Kakashi came to an unspoken agreement never to repeat their "talks" with anyone else. The only other person privy to what they were doing was Yamato, and that was only because he was not, in fact, an imbecile, and knew Kakashi too well not to see the same spark in his eyes as Sakura did. It was not difficult to put two and two together._

 _"_ _Is it consensual?" was Yamato's first question to Sakura when he asked her to stay after class one day._

 _"_ _I'm sorry?" she said slowly, blinking rabidly._

 _Yamato took a deep breath, his face beat red as his owlish eyes flicked back and forth between Kakashi—who was still lounging in his seat with his nose buried in his little orange book—and Sakura, who was still just blinking stupidly at him and wondering if he was asking her what she thought he was. "Is. It. Consensual," he repeated, even slower for her, and lowered his voice like Kakashi hadn't already heard his question the first time._

 _"_ _Maa, maa, Yamato-senpai," Kakashi drawled. "You're confusing the poor girl."_

 _"_ _I—I just—" Sakura took a deep breath and started again. "Are you asking me if I'm seeing Professor Kakashi . . . romantically?" She had to physically stop the uncomfortable giggles trying to make their way up her throat._

 _Yamato just stared at her with his owlish eyes, and Sakura couldn't hold back one sharp laugh that was too rough for her dry throat. "I'm sorry, but—no,_ so _many no's"_

 _Kakashi looked up enough that his crinkled eyes could look out at her from the top of his little orange porn book. "I think I'm slightly offended."_

 _Sakura laughed harder._

 _Yamato swallowed. "So . . . you mean, you two aren't . . . ?"_

 _"_ _Romantically involved?" Sakura finished and shook her head. "Absolutely not."_

 _"_ _Now I_ know _I'm offended."_

 _Sakura rolled her eyes at him._

 _Professor Yamato looked like he had just swallowed something sour, his lips puckered and face slowly losing color. Sakura looked at him in concern._

 _"_ _So all this time, you two have been doing . . . what, exactly?" Yamato finally croaked out, and Sakura wondered what his reaction would have been had she actually confirmed that she and Kakashi were indeed romantically involved. She thought that particular reaction might have been hand-in-hand with choking on his own carbon dioxide._

 _"_ _So nosy, Yamato-senpai," Kakashi drawled. Sakura could see his eyes crinkle in amusement._

 _"_ _Talking," Sakura said. "That's all."_

 _"_ _Talking," Yamato repeated, slower. Kakashi made an_ hmmm _sound. "Why?"_

 _"_ _Nosy," Kakashi repeated, slower._

 _Sakura ignored him. "Because he's been stalking me, and I'd much rather him stalk me and be able to hold a decent conversation than let him continue stalking me when I'm not noticing."_

 _Yamato blinked at her._

 _Sakura peeked over at Kakashi, who still looked amused. "Sakura-chan, you would never have noticed me stalking you if I didn't want you too."_

 _She pursed her lips. "My point exactly."_

 _Yamato was looking back and forth between them, slightly frantic._

 _"_ _So . . . you two aren't involved romantically, but instead you've come to some sort of agreement that he—" he pointed accusingly at Kakashi, "—can continue following you everywhere so long as he's a good converser and you're just . . . ," he waved his hands in front of Sakura like it was supposed to mean something to her and God above, "okay with that?"_

 _"_ _Well," Kakashi drawled, "we're also going to break into a seemingly abandoned warehouse tonight that may or may not be notorious for black market dealings. One that also may or may not deal with stolen kidney's and questionable chemicals and mysteriously obtained cadavers and scientific journals that could give Josef Mengele a run for his Nazi money." His eyes crinkled even more._

 _Sakura blinked at him. "Well. Why the hell didn't I know about this?" she growled out at him, clenching her fists._

 _Yamato had at some point during Kakashi's speech sat back on a desk and looked like he was weighting the pros and cons of getting a new job. And maybe new friends. Also, maybe, changing his name and moving somewhere Kakashi couldn't track him down and scare him half to death by pouncing through some window on the eleventh floor._

 _Sakura wondered if she could come with him._

 _"_ _Did you know," Kakashi continued like everyone in the room besides him wasn't wondering about how to go about changing one's name legally and how much the whole process would cost to move out of the country, "that there is some real good money in human body donation? Really. I mean, you could make a few grand on a woman's ovaries and uterus and internal organs. Even blood can go for a pretty penny, if taken from the right person."_

 _"_ _Given," Sakura said. "Don't you mean, 'If the blood is_ given _by the right person?'"_

 _Kakashi just blinked at her and cooed like she was something adorable._

 _"_ _Just to be clear," Yamato spoke up from where it looked like he was trying very hard to make himself soak into the wood on the desk he was leaning against, "you're not joking about this, are you?"_

 _Kakashi turned his attention from cooing at Sakura to glaring pityingly at Yamato, like he really should know better._

 _Sakura took a deep breath and looked to heaven. "Do I have a choice in this?"_

 _Kakashi looked at her, shocked, and Sakura couldn't tell if he was serious or not. "Of course you have a choice, Sakura-chan. You can either come with me and find out more information about your notorious Akatsuki fan club and why you were attacked, or you could go home tonight and work on memorizing the glands of the human body. Your choice."_

 _Sakura bit back the remark about how she already knew every gland in the human body, and what hormones they produced, and what those hormones acted on and did, and so on and so forth. But she didn't._

 _So they went._

* * *

 _Unfortunately, Yamato tagged along._

 _"_ _If you two think for even one second that I'm going to just sit by and know the idiocy that you're up to, you've got another thing coming," Yamato chastised as Sakura strapped on a thigh holster and stuffed a pocket knife inside her bra, reminiscent of a mother-hen. Kakashi oh-so politely pretended not to watch her shove odd weapons inside her shirt._

 _"_ Maa, maa _, Yamato-senpai. You worry too much; it's not good for indigestion."_

 _Sakura paused at the resemblance that statement had to one Tobi dropped in the middle of a rousing breakfast at the Uchiha mansion, and felt a punch to her stomach. She didn't comment._

 _The warehouse they were all apparently going to break into that night was not, in fact, a creepy old thing located in the middle of nowhere, where screams could be muffled and no one would ever be able to get service on their phones._

 _No, instead, said warehouse was more like a renovated townhouse in a nice, little rich-y part of town. It was not, in fact, in the middle of nowhere—quite the opposite, actually. Sakura found this all a bit discouraging._

 _"_ _Wait," she had said, slowly, when Kakashi had shown her on Google Maps where they were going. "_ This _is it? It looks like something a normal family would live in!"_

 _Kakashi eye-crinkled down at her._

 _"_ _And it's practically got neighbors!" While the homes and buildings around the so-called warehouse were not right next to each other in the way middle-class homes were, it was by no means next to sprawling land. "Don't people wonder why random people are walking in and out of there in the dead of night? There's always that one nosy neighbor."_

 _"_ _Well," Kakashi said, eyeing the warehouse on Google Maps, "they actually kind of own the place, sooo . . ."_

 _Sakura blinked. "Don't tell me the people we're about to ambush are friendly with the neighbors."_

 _Kakashi blinked down at her and shrugged._

 _Sakura squinted at him. "They're in on the whole black market thing too, aren't they?"_

 _He scratched the back of his head. "Probably."_

 _Yamato had been watching them with a mystified look on his face._

 _Now, though, Sakura, Kakashi, and Yamato were all armed to the teeth, and Sakura would lie if she didn't say she didn't feel just a little badass._

 _Before they left in Yamato's car (because apparently Kakashi had his license revoked again due to questionable reasons that Yamato would not tell her and Kakashi just cooed at her for asking about), Kakashi stopped them both by saying, "Ah, also, Orochimaru might be there tonight. Something about a certain something he wanted handed to him in person . . ."_

 _Yamato punched him in the jaw._

 _Or at least Sakura thought he did. Honestly, he'd moved so fast and Sakura hadn't been looking at the right moment that all she saw by the time she turned towards them was Kakashi getting thrown backwards and Yamato looking more terrifying than she'd ever seen him look. She may have backed up a step._

 _Kakashi chuckled. "Did I forget to mention that?"_

 _Sakura swallowed. "Who's Orochimaru?"_

 _Yamato turned to look at her, incredulous. "You didn't tell her!?" he bellowed, glaring at Kakashi. "You were going to lead her into that warehouse with that monster in there without telling her what she was getting herself into? Has it not occurred to you in that giant head of yours that maybe this is exactly what Orochimaru wants!?"_

 _Kakashi was still on the floor, and he chuckled as he propped himself up on his elbows, looking for all the world like he hadn't just been punched by his closest friend. "Don't be so blind, Yamato-senpai. Sakura-chan understands more than you give her credit for. Not knowing the name of the monster won't make any difference."_

 _Sakura eyed them both wearily, coming to rest on Yamato, whose breath was coming in short puffs and whose face was turning redder by the second. "I think," she began, "that you give me more credit in all this than I deserve."_

 _Yamato turned his head to glare at her. "Oh, really? You were targeted by this monster because of your ties to both the Akatsuki and the Uchiha clan. Has it not occurred to you the position you're in? How you have seamlessly gained the attention and affection of some of the most powerful people in the world? For Kami's sake, Sakura, you're best friends with an Uchiha clan heir and the sole Uzumaki clan heir!"_

 _Sakura narrowed her eyes at him and said in a deathly calm voice, "I understand perfectly the position I am in, thank you very much. I have been reminded of that fact by both the elders of said clan and by a most recent attack, in case you have forgotten. But that's not what I meant. If Orochimaru wanted so badly to send a message to the Akatsuki and send them a nice little hit to the Uchiha clan, he didn't need to go after_ me _to do it. And have either of you actually considered everything that happened? From what I understand this Orochimaru knows what he's doing, and so why would he send one man to grab me in the parking lot of a popular college, where anyone could see us? When the one man wasn't even trained, from what I could tell, and I doubt Orochimaru was foolish enough not to do his research on me, on the training I've had. For Kami's sake, I've practically been trained by both the Akatsuki and the Uchiha clan, and I doubt Orochimaru is naïve enough to not understand what that would mean!"_

 _Sakura waved one hand towards were Kakashi was still positioned on the floor, staring up at her. "Not to mention me being followed by both the Akatsuki and the people they've hired! There were too many variable, too many possibilities for mistakes to happen if Orochimaru actually wanted me hurt or dead."_

 _Yamato blinked owlishly at her, and Kakashi just continued to stare up at her, eternally amused._

 _Sakura rolled her eyes. "Unbelievable," she muttered, and started to head for Yamato's car, getting into the passenger's seat without asking._

 _Finally, both Yamato and Kakashi got in the car, though not before exchanging some heated words beforehand, if what Sakura saw out the window was anything to go by._

 _The car ride was silent. There wasn't really a plan to go by, sans not getting killed and/or captured. Mostly because they all knew whatever plan they laid would just go to hell in the first few minutes, likely because both Yamato and Sakura understood Kakashi would do his own thing and ruin anything they planned._

 _Kakashi whistled some tune in the backseat until Yamato looked ready to burst._

 _Once they arrived, Yamato parked some blocks away and turned off the engine of the car. They walked towards the warehouse, and Sakura figured that if anyone ever saw them like this, dressed all in black with obvious bulges hidden under their clothes, there may be police called._

 _Seeing the warehouse painted an off-white color, obviously newly refurbished, was a little off-putting. Whoever owned this place had money to spare._

 _Sakura looked around for a moment, thinking. When she looked up and noticed that the place was two-stories, she smiled._

 _Without waiting for Kakashi or Yamato, Sakura climbed the large oak tree next to the warehouse, lifting herself easily enough to reach the topmost branches. She heard a muffled curse word from below, likely from Yamato who was asking what the hell she was doing._

 _Sakura ignored him and reached towards the side of the warehouse where the branches meet. The second story was full of windows, luckily. Sakura pushed on the ones she could reach before realizing they were all locked._

 _"_ _Need some help?"_

 _Sakura forced herself not to jump in shock at the voice that was right next to her ear, so close she felt his breath on her neck. She made an annoyed sound._

 _Kakashi chuckled. He scooted her back on the branch—making her aware of the fact that Yamato was up there too, lounging a few branches away—and pulled something from his pocket. A few moments later, a window popped open._

 _Sakura blinked at him. "How did you—?"_

 _But Kakashi was already inside._

 _She felt Yamato move next to her, giving the silent command to be the next one inside. She muttered incoherently under her breath._

 _It was dark inside, almost no light visible. Most of the second story was made out of windows, and the moonlight from outside gave just enough illumination for Sakura to see that there was, indeed, a floor underneath her feet when she lifted herself over the side of the window. Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura caught a quick flash of white hair._

 _A hand grabbed her elbow, and Sakura almost flinched at the contact. Kakashi pulled her silently over to one of the corners, and only stopped when Yamato caught up to them both._

 _A silent conversation seemed to pass between Kakashi and Yamato, because in the next second Sakura was being placed between a banister overlooking the ground floor and the wall. She was tucked into just enough space that unless someone knew exactly where to look, no one would see her._

 _Yamato made a 'stay' motion with his hand—which Sakura did not appreciate, at_ all _—and both he and Kakashi set up their own spots around the second floor. Sakura watched as Kakashi easily flung himself up into the rafters and lounged against a wooden beam, and as Yamato blended into the shadows along the opposite side of the warehouse than Sakura was at, slipping behind a wooden pole. Sakura blinked, and both of them were gone._

 _And then they waited._

 _None of them moved from their spots for the next two hours, and Sakura was beginning to get some serious cramps in her legs when the first sound of footsteps were only barely heard downstairs. Sakura froze._

 _The long metal chain that had been holding the doors of the warehouse close before were dropped loudly on the cement floors, and Sakura almost winced at how the sound bounced off the walls. She had been positioned in the same spot, without moving or making one single sound for nearly two hours, and hearing such a careless, harsh sound was a shot to the senses._

 _It seemed that there was only one man to come through the doors, but Sakura didn't trust the sound of footfalls to tell her how many people were around her now._

 _The man—if the heavy_ thunk _of the footsteps were anything to go by—seemed to be pacing below. She couldn't see his face, and his body went in and out her line of sight often enough. He kept wiping his hands on his pants and running a hand across his head, that of which Sakura could see was bald. Her hand kept going to her pocket._

 _It was another half hour before anyone else showed up, and when they did, it was only two more men._

 _One was tall and lanky, with long inky hair trailing behind him—or her. Really, Sakura couldn't tell. The other walked a few paces behind, looking around them and up at the ceiling. Sakura held herself as still as possible._

 _The man who had already been there stopped pacing and widened his stance. Sakura recognized what he was doing. Tring to make himself appear larger than he actually was, even though he was already a rather large, bulky man to begin with. It didn't take her too long to figure out that the man with the long hair was the one to worry about. And if he was the one to worry about, Sakura assumed he was Orochimaru._

 _To be honest, Sakura had pictured this all a little differently. She'd expected there to be more men present, mostly. Backup and intimidation, and all that. But it seemed that Orochimaru didn't need more than himself to appear intimidating._

 _Even though Sakura understood what this man was and what he was capable of—Kakashi had shown her pictures and documents earlier, enough to make her understand exactly what she may be coming face to face with—Sakura didn't feel one iota of fear. There didn't seem like there was an aura of danger coming from him, but maybe that was just because she wasn't close enough to him to feel the disgust she should in his presence._

 _But then again, Sakura never felt fear or intimidated around the Akatsuki or the Uchiha clan members, and you didn't get much more intimidating than they did._

 _What Sakura felt was cold. And numb. The cool air from outside had been steadily creeping in ever since they arrived, and Sakura could no longer properly feel her fingers or toes, despite her warm socks and gloves._

 _Sakura licked her lips and felt the desire to put her hands around this man's throat and remind men like him what it feels like to be vulnerable._

 _(Sakura could hold a grudge.) (For a long time.)_

 _When he spoke, it slithered over her skin and made her heart pump faster. Her mouth opened just slightly._

 _This._

 _This was the man of nightmares._

 _(But not Sakura's.)_

 _"_ _What do you have for me, Jirōbō? Something good, I hope, for calling me out here."_

 _Sakura's eyes darted up to look at where Kakashi was perched, only to find his gaze not below, but on Sakura. He must have seen something in her face, because he narrowed his eyes minutely at her, as if pondering something._

 _The person who entered alongside Orochimaru stepped forward and pushed his glasses up his nose. Jirōbō pulled out what looked like a notebook—no larger than the palm of his large hand—and held it out. Sakura blinked at how white the hair of the boy was—and he was a boy, Sakura could see that fairly easily now, not much older than Sakura herself—who had pushed his glasses up on his nose. His face curved into a smirk, and it was from this boy—not Orochimaru—who Sakura felt the first pang of fear run through her._

 _Sakura searched for a name in her mind—Kakashi had shown her a file of names and pictures and, for some, a list of crimes and activities, some known and unknown._

 _Kabuto._

 _Sakura inhaled slowly, and exhaled even slower. Kabuto might be the worst of the bunch of underlings under Orochimaru. Shit past—hell, heartbreaking past—but arguably more ruthless than even Orochimaru._

 _Kakashi hadn't specified, but he'd told her a vague description of Kabuto's crimes and monstrosities towards humanity._

 _Sakura had nicked his file—marginable thicker than the others—when neither Yamato nor Kakashi had been looking, and had found herself dumbfounded and even a little—just a little, just barely, but enough to note—intrigued. Impressed in suppressed ways._

 _Animal and human dissections. Trying to implant a deer heart into a baby girl's body. Seeing if animal and human body parts could be swapped. Seeing if chromosomes and gene splicing worked in new, disturbing ways. What would happen if a shark brain was switched with a toddlers? Man-eating tendencies? Chunks of frontal and temporal lobes switched and removed, added and subtracted to see what might click. Adding blue dye to a person's eyes._

 _There had been pictures._

 _Nazi doctor, indeed._

 _Sakura had felt something rising to the surface when she'd read his file and studied the bleeding bodies of his victims. What was left of them, at least, and only of the ones anyone could find. It appeared that Kabuto was a not a fan of wasting material._

 _She felt mostly disgust, surely . . . but also intrigue. Because seeing if a baby who was born with a malfunction, a hole in her heart that would kill her before she could walk could have a deer heart transplant, and be able to lead a mostly normal life because of it? That was interesting. That was something to be impressed by, even though Kabuto's ways of going about his experiments were more than a tad disturbing._

 _When Kakashi had seen her looking through Kabuto's files with mismatching emotions playing across her features, he'd simply taken the file out of her hands and said, "Not everything is as simple as the world would have you believe, Sakura-chan. Look underneath the underneath, and even then, don't be hasty to judge."_

 _Now, Kabuto handed the tiny notebook to Orochimaru, who flipped through it idly before tucking it into his front pocket. It was only then that Sakura noticed that he was wearing a formal suit, black tie and all._

 _Kabuto shifted a little closer to Jirōbō, and the moonlight that had been steadily getting bright as the night went on, lighted up his clothing. Also formal, black tie event worthy._

 _Also covered in blood._

 _Jirōbō must have just noticed this as well, because Sakura watched as his shoulders twitched in shock, and watched Kabuto's lips curving up even more because of it. A mistake. The shark smelt blood in the water now._

 _Orochimaru chuckled, and it sounded like the tinkling sound Sakura's attacker had made as she had her hands wrapped around his throat, chocking him. "Ah, please excuse our less than presentable attire, Jirōbō. An unhappy customer, you understand."_

 _Jirōbō nodded like he was a toy on too loose springs. Kabuto quirked his head to the side as the moonlight caught his glasses._

 _Sakura gritted her teeth together at his face. Something about him set her on edge in the worst of ways._

 _"_ _Now, let's discus your team member's less than ideal position as of now," Orochimaru hissed._

 _Kabuto started to walk around Jirōbō, slowly and methodically. It was something Sakura had seen Deidara and Hidan do with their opponents when dueling. "Kidōmaru has found himself in something of a legal bind, hasn't he? Not smart, attacking the girl in the parking lot like that." Something wicked curled and licked around the shadows of his face. "He always did enjoy prolonging the pain, the horror of his victims."_

 _Orochimaru chortled. "Come now, Kabuto. You enjoyed watching little Sakura-chan's fight with Kidōmaru far more than that."_

 _Kabuto cocked his head to the side, still grinning._

 _He'd been there. Watching everything play out. And it appeared to be shocking new news to Jirōbō as well, if his reaction was anything to go by._

 _Jirōbō began to stutter. "Y-you told us to take care of the girl—if the Hatake bastard hadn't been there—"_

 _"_ _Little Sakura-chan would have gleefully choked the life out of Kidōmaru," Kabuto finished happily. "Quite the site to watch. Kidōmaru and the hands he'd always taken so much pride in—breaking people, moving quicker than he should be able to—all for not because of one little pink haired girl. Now, what does that say about his usefulness, hmm?"_

 _Orochimaru was watching the scene with obvious glee on his face._

 _Sakura thought once again about her arms, and her attacker's—Kidōmaru, she corrected herself, finally having a name to her nightmare—hands scratching at them, tearing flesh and spilling blood, and she thought she understood what Kabuto meant about the pride in his hands. Even if Kidōmaru hadn't succeeded in getting what he wanted from her, he still left his mark on her through his hands._

 _"_ _We can get Kidōmaru back," Jirōbō began._

 _"_ _No," Orochimaru hissed. "The boy has outlived his usefulness. He's in the clutches of the Akatsuki and the Uchiha clan now. I wouldn't be surprised to hear of his apparent suicide any day now. Of course, no body will ever be found to either confirm or deny that."_

 _Sakura focused on her breathing. It was so cold, but there was a heat behind her eyes that hadn't been there before, smothering her senses and moving down to her chest._

 _Jirōbō reared back at this. Sakura waited to see if his loyalty to his team member would outweigh his fear of Orochimaru._

 _"_ _Of course, Orochimaru-sama," Jirōbō said, no hesitation in his voice. Sakura narrowed her eyes. Fear, then._

 _Orochimaru cocked his head to the side, listening. Sakura held her breath._

 _Kabuto walked back over to Orochimaru's side, seemingly bored with the turn of events._

 _"_ _Are we to still go after the girl?" Jirōbō asked._

 _Kabuto paused as Orochimaru continued to leave the warehouse. He turned his head to the side, his back still to Sakura and Jirōbō. "Your usefulness has expired, Jirōbō-san."_

 _Jirōbō's voice hitched, but Sakura ignored it as Kabuto turned and looked right at Sakura's hiding place. She froze, and didn't relax even as Kabuto's gaze moved around the top of the second story, coming to rest on certain spots before moving along._

 _Kabuto sighed and looked back at Jirōbō, who—to his credit—was not trembling or giving almost any obvious signs of panic. "If you are able to ensure that no one leaves this place alive, you may live." And he turned and walked out the doors. "Until next time, Sakura-chan!" Kabuto called out gleefully._

 _It took Jirōbō less than five seconds to understand Kabuto's meaning, and all of a few seconds for Yamato to jump down from the rafters and slit Jirōbō's throat._

 _Sakura moved her hand down to her side and picked up the video camera, checked to make sure it had recorded and saved everything, flipped it off, and then made her way down to the first floor, where Kakashi had procured a cloth found on one of the crates and offered it to Yamato to clean the blood off his face._

 _Sakura walked over and looked at Jirōbō's open throat and swallowed thickly. She waited for the guilt or disgust to come, but it never did._

 _She wandered over to one of the crates, tilted her head at how nice they looked, how there wasn't any dust covering the tops of them. She put her fingers underneath the lid of one and gave a cautious tug on it, surprised when it easily lifted away._

 _The smell hit her first. She had been in the presence of cadavers often enough, had dissected and had both her hands buried in them enough, but those had always smelled of formaldehyde and had never bothered her before._

 _But this. This she knew was the smell of rotting flesh, and even though Sakura had never smelt it before, she knew instantly what it was. There was no mistaking it._

 _The shock of the smell made her drop the lid back onto the crate, but even then the smell still lingered. Sakura breathed through her mouth and blinked back the tears in her eyes and lifted the lid once again._

 _She couldn't even tell what was what. Obviously, it was full of body parts, but Sakura couldn't tell if they were human, animal, male, female, or all of the above. All it was was blood and gore and skin and things that had obviously come from the inside of a living creature._

 _Sakura saw movement out of the corner of her vision, and watched as Kakashi looking over the side to see what the smell was coming from. He narrowed his eyes at it, and something sparked through his body that Sakura hadn't seen before. She looked back down, her eyes drawn again to the gore in front of her until she couldn't take the smell anymore—even though she wasn't breathing through her nose, but it was so strong that it leaked into her eyes to make them water and seemed to permeate through her skin until Sakura was sure she was choking on it._

 _Kakashi was watching her, and after a few seconds of staring her down and Sakura not backing down, he eye crinkled at her and gestured to her video camera. "I look forward to seeing the reactions of the Akatsuki." He then went on to pull out his little bright orange porn book and discuss clean-up methods with Yamato_ _—who had also seen the insides of the crate but had instead backed up a few steps unlike Sakura and Kakashi—_ _weighing the pros and cons of burning the place to the ground or leaving the body be and letting someone else deal with the mess._

 _Sakura made sure to get the contents of the crates on camera, opening others by herself to find more of the same, some in glass jars, some pieces more taken care of than others. She blinked back tears from the smell of it all, had to sometimes go outside for clean air, but never gagged._

 _It wasn't until they were leaving in the car, a towel placed under Yamato to prevent any blood getting on the seat, that Sakura realized the tune Kakashi was annoyingly whistling._

"Leaves from the vine  
Falling so slow  
Like fragile tiny shells  
Drifting in the foam  
Little soldier boy says  
"Carry me home"  
Sleeping soldier boy  
Is carried home."

* * *

Author's Note: So we finally get to see how Sakura knows more than the Akatsuki expected, and what they'll find on that little nifty flashdrive she gave Itachi, huh?

I'm finally done with school! YAY! Now I have a nice little internship this summer along with a job, so I'll still be pretty busy and I don't know how often I'll be able to update once again. So sorry. Such is life.

Also, this story will be ending very, very soon. Like, in only a handful of more chapters. The next chapter will be full of Akatsuki love and Uchiha love along with Blue. I miss that dog. He was meant to have a much bigger part in this story, and that just didn't seem to happen. Also, Ino and Karin. They need to come back.

I'm thinking about writing a vampire story with a vampire Sakura. Tell me what ya'll think of that broad idea! It might be a little like _Pink Haired Fox_ in how Sakura is perceived, but I've been itching to try my hand at the famous vampire genre, since I've never done anything like it before. Tell me what you guys want, and if I did do that, which characters you'd want to be included and if you wanted it to be Sakura with one particular character or a harem thing again. Like, please. Talk to me. Let me know what ya'll want. I try my best. ;)

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! Talk to me people!


	10. Chapter 10

Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

It took all of twelve hours for the Akatsuki to lose patience and slam her door down. Really, Sakura had expected their patience to run out in half that time.

She was marginally impressed.

She also owed Kakashi ten bucks now. Bastard.

"YOU LITTLE DIPSHIT, YEAH!"

"I thought we'd agreed to not break more things?"

"THAT WAS BEFORE BLONDIE CUT IN FRONT OF ME! HEY, PINK HAIRED BITCH, WHERE IN JASHIN-SAMA'S FUCKING NAME ARE YOU!?"

"Squirt's gonna kill all of you."

"Hn."

"Brat."

"DANNA."

Blue picked his head up off the floor near Sakura's place on the couch—not even bothering to turn her head as she heard the Akatsuki at her door . . . not even when said door flew off its hinges, nope, not even then—and raced towards Deidara at full blown puppy speed.

There was a very feminine scream when Blue tackled Deidara to the floor. Sakura was unsure if it actually came from Deidara or from Hidan, who had reared back the moment he noticed a small fluff of blonde fur darting towards them at full speed. His arms were in the air and he was balancing on one foot as Deidara went down and multiple expletives could be heard.

Sakura slowly placed her bookmark on the page she had been reading from and set it down on the coffee table next to her. She sighed, and wondered when Naruto and Sasuke would get home.

She turned halfway around to face the Akatsuki members in her doorway. "So I take it you've all seen the flashdrive?"

"Damn right we've all seen the fucking flashdrive!" Hidan bellowed, like repeating her question verbatim made it all the more important.

Deidara whimpered under Blue.

Kisame was watching Blue maul Deidara with a funny look on his face, the corner of his lip occasionally quirking up.

Itachi came over to the couch Sakura was still perched on and sat down next to her. He looked pointedly at the cup of tea left untouched next to her. Sakura swallowed and looked away.

He picked up the book she'd previously been reading from and quirked an eyebrow. "I wouldn't have taken you as a fan of Hardy," he said, flipping through her highlighted and tattered version of _Tess of the d'Urbervilles_ left over from her AP high school literature class.

She quirked her head. "You've read it?"

Itachi nodded.

She raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"Angel is an asshole."

Sakura let out a shocked laugh. Of all the things she'd expected him to say, that hadn't even been on the list. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd heard Itachi curse.

"I don't read it for Angel."

Itachi quirked his head at her. "Alec, then?"

Sakura shrugged. "And Tess, of course. Alec is a right asshole, as you say, but he's an interesting character at least."

There was a loud groan behind them. "Please, for the love of fucking Jashin-sama, stop fucking talking about a damn book!"

Itachi daintily cleared his throat. "Yes, well. I believe you know what we came here to discuss, Sakura-chan."

"I don't regret it."

Kisame had made his way over to the couch and leaned over the side of it. "What part, squirt?"

She shrugged again. "All of it. I needed to know everything."

"You don't know everything quite yet, doll-face," Sasori said, at some point having planted himself into a nearby chair, his chin propped up on this his hand, leaning over himself as if to get closer.

"Maybe not."

"You're going to keep digging, aren't you?" Kisame grunted.

She just raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to kill him?" she asked instead.

Itachi folded his hands onto his lap. "Yes."

"Would you like some help?"

It was at that moment Blue had decided Deidara's hair had been ruined enough and came trotting over, tail wagging, to jump up in-between Sakura and Itachi, turning his head enough to look Itachi in the eye and bare his teeth.

Itachi just looked insulted.

"I don't know if that's the best idea, squirt," Kisame said.

"I don't really care. What about Kabuto?"

Sakura saw Sasori's muscles lock up at the mention of that name. "What _about_ Kabuto?" he asked, his lips pressed into a firm line.

Even though she was the one to bring it up, Sakura was thrown for a moment on how to answer correctly. "He seems worse than Orochimaru," was what she settled for saying.

Sasori shrugged and looked away. "Depends on your definition of _worse_ , doll-face."

"Kid's a mini Orochimaru in the making," Kisame said.

Itachi studied Sakura, looking around Blue with some difficulty. "We'll take care of him, sweetheart," he said lowly.

Sakura just nodded.

"DA FUCK HAPPENED TO OUR DOOR, TEME!?"

Sakura turned to see both Naruto and Sasuke in the doorway, making eyes at all the gathered Akatsuki members in their home and Sakura on the couch.

Sasuke eyed how Blue was a fluffy barrier between Sakura and his older brother on the couch. He gave a miniscule nod towards the pup, smug in his good naming choice for the dog.

Sakura caught this and narrowed her eyes at Sasuke.

He gave her an innocent look.

Naruto just kept looking at the broken door, hanging off the hinges. His hands were running through his golden hair, making it even more askew than it already was.

Sakura pushed off the sofa, ignoring the whine from Blue, and walked over to where Naruto and the broken door were, looking it over for the first time.

She looked at the clock hanging next to the door. 11:32 PM.

She sighed. "Well, I think it's time to go to the _Waffle House_." Then, looking back at the men behind her, she grabbed her jacket and purse and pulled Naruto along with her, and said, "Y'all can come too, if you want. Sasuke—you're coming."

She walked out.

Blue yipped and trotted out the door behind them, wagging his tail.

Sasuke just blinked after them for a moment before shrugging and following them out the door, throwing over his shoulder, "None of you better be here when we get back," which was a little foolish, all things considered, because there was never any doubt in anyone's mind that the Akatsuki wasn't going to follow after them to the nearest _Waffle House_.

On the way out, Kisame attempted to pull the door back into an upright position, but after a moment gave up with a shrug and a sigh, and instead placed a sticky note decorated with cherry blossoms around the edges—Sakura's sticky notes, obviously—and simply drew the Akatsuki symbol along with the Uchiha fan on it—a fair enough warning to anyone who'd dare attempt a robbery of any sort.

* * *

The _Waffle House_ was not empty, as they'd expected. Instead, Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, and the various Akatsuki members (sans Blue, who had been left locked inside Naruto's room at the apartment, who'd whined and scratched at the door as they left a second time until Naruto had attempted to sneak the dog into the car with them. Obviously, this didn't fly with Sakura or Sasuke, who had a mini panic attack about dog hair on his leather seats. Of course, Sasuke's version of a 'mini panic attack' simply included a huff and crazy eyes directed at the dope), had been forced to take up residence in the tiny lobby until some very perturbed customers suddenly up and left hurriedly after getting side-eyed by Hidan for five minutes straight. Sakura refused to feel guilty over that right then.

Both Naruto and Sasuke knew about Sakura's little adventure with Kakashi and Yamato and were privy to the details of the flashdrive, Sakura having shown them the contents before she made a copy and handed it over to the Akatsuki. It was only fair, she thought. She already felt bad enough about going and doing it without telling them, but it had been last minute, and Sakura knew they'd bring down heaven and hell to make sure she didn't go had she told them beforehand, and so she thought her actions were completely justified.

They both surprisingly took the news very well . . . until, that was, Kabuto threw out his little " _Until next time, Sakura-chan!_ " at the end, which at that point, both Naruto and Sasuke were making crazy eyes at her computer screen, and they got very, very quiet.

Neither had chastised Sakura for doing what she had because (1) they knew they would have done the exact same thing in her position, and therefore couldn't get angry with her vocally since her argument with them would be thorough and would only make everyone angrier than before, and (2) because Sakura was smart about how she'd done things. She didn't throw herself at Orochimaru or Kabuto unnecessarily. She recorded the whole exchange for proof. Also, she told Naruto and Sasuke about it all right away.

Both of the boys were on their phones within the hour of seeing the tape—Naruto telling his father everything and sending him an email to his private server with the video attached; Sasuke calling various family members (including his mother, the scariest Uchiha of them all).

When they were all finally seated, Sakura side-eyed Naruto. His head was bowed and he was fidgeting with a napkin, shredding it into a thousand pieces in his lap. Sakura bit back the remark about him trying to build a hamster's nest.

Both he and Sasuke were still in their cop uniforms. Both looked tired.

Sasuke had a smudge underneath one eye, and Sakura almost reached across the table to rub it away, but held herself back.

When the waitress came over to fill their coffee mugs, Naruto started to drink his right away, and Sakura raised her eyebrows. He never drank coffee unless it was drowning in sugar and cream; never black. Sasuke ignored his cup of coffee, instead fiddled with the ends of his still dyed hair.

Sakura felt something ugly coil in her gut. Her hands were fisted in her lap, and for a moment Sakura thought about asking the Akatsuki members to leave so she could probe and coax Sasuke and Naruto. But there was time enough for that later.

Sakura looked over to her right, looking at Itachi, who was looking at Sasuke with a narrowed expression. He was frowning.

"Well, this is fucking depressing," Hidan suddenly announced to the table. "Baby, if this is what your goddamn nights fucking consist of, no wonder you're chalk full of nothing but damn sexual tension and need to get fucking laid—"

Kisame smacked the back of his head. Hidan turned to face him, lips pulled back from his teeth. "Yo, fish-face, you wanna fucking go!?"

Kisame snorted. "I think you should shut up."

Sasori sat to Sakura's left and started to fiddle with the ends of her hair. She grumbled, but it felt too good to smack his hands away.

"Someone's grumpy tonight," Sasori muttered fondly.

Sakura barred her teeth. "Well, if I hadn't had multiple obnoxious men tearing down my door maybe I'd be in a better mood."

"Touché."

Sakura saw Sasuke smirk. She narrowed her eyes at him.

Different conversations went on around her; Sakura caught snippets of Hidan and Kisame throwing insults at each other, Sasori and Deidara muttering to each other about the awful decorum of the _Waffle House_ , Itachi staring at Sasuke while they engaged in their silent Uchiha conversation, and Naruto staring blankly at his almost empty coffee cup. Sakura pushed her nearly untouched and sugar infused mug his way. He didn't look up.

Sakura haunted places like the _Waffle House_ not-so-regularly, but enough to warrant the two or three waitresses to recognize her, even if they only knew her by her pink hair and possibly her usual order.

When her waffle arrived (because really, who went to the _Waffle House_ without getting an actual waffle?), she dared any one of the men to comment on the pile of blueberries and blueberry syrup she was currently dowsing it with.

Hidan wiggled his eyebrows at her. "My fucking offer still stands, baby."

Sakura cringed at the reminder of what Hidan had commented on the last time she ate a waffle in his presence.

Kisame gave her a pointed look.

Sakura plopped a bite of waffle in her mouth in retaliation.

Naruto looked up long enough to look confused.

Itachi cleared his throat. "The flashdrive, sweetheart. We need to discuss it."

"Again. I don't regret it."

"No one said you didn't. How are you doing?"

The question threw her for a moment. "Fine."

"Fine?"

" _Yes_."

Kisame grunted. "Give us a warning next time, squirt, when you decide to play detective, would you?"

"So you can stop me?"

"So we know. And help, if you need it," Itachi said.

"I didn't know what Kakashi was going to do beforehand. And I doubted any of you would appreciate a text with the message being 'Hey, going to an abandoned warehouse with my pervert of a professor and his owl-eyed sidekick. May possibly include snake-eyes and creepy white haired dude and dead bodies.'"

Naruto choked on a laugh.

Kisame narrowed his eyes, but he was more amused than annoyed. "We'll be having a little chat with Kakashi about that."

"I'd worry, but Kakashi doesn't seem like the type to be intimidated or take advice." She tilted her head, another bite of waffle halfway to her mouth. "And if he's anything like Tobi, none of you will touch him."

They were silent at that. Answer enough.

Sakura finished her waffle.

"I'll try to call next time," Sakura muttered on the way out. "So you know."

Kisame ruffled her hair. "Thanks, squirt."

Deidara leaned down to speak into her ear. "Just remember, Sakura-chan, anything happens to you, there will be no telling what we'll do, yeah. Pein will tear the foundations of this city to the ground, until there's nowhere for Orochimaru or Kabuto to hide."

Sakura blinked. Deidara's tone was playful, but there was no mistake in the weight his words carried.

"It would be a bloodbath," Kisame agreed with a hum. "Just so you know."

* * *

Blue tackled Naruto the moment his bedroom door was opened, still happy to greet them even when he'd been locked inside a bedroom for the past hour.

They'd left the Akatsuki members at the entrance to their building. The front door had been mysteriously been repaired when they'd arrived home, no note on the door, not notice of a fine due or demand of payment. None of them commented on it.

(Itachi had muttered in her ear before he'd left, saying, "We have better alcohol at the club, sweetheart."

Sakura had glared at him and thought about actually drinking her untouched cup of tea sitting in her living room in retaliation, but bit her lip and grudgingly decided he was right. It really was horrible vodka.)

Naruto had gone straight to his bedroom the moment Blue stopped slobbering over his face, and came back out in boxers and a white t-shirt. Sasuke did the same, only tacking longer in the bathroom than the rest of them.

"So," Sakura started, pushing the steaming bowl of ramen towards Naruto on the counter. "What happened?"

Naruto just looked at her.

"Give me more credit than that," Sakura scoffed. "I'm not stupid. Something happened and it's grating on you. Spill."

Naruto fidgeted, and Sakura felt something sink in her gut in response.

Finally, he sighed. "There was a suicide at the jail."

"Oh."

Sakura watched Naruto's throat bob as he swallowed. He looked at her from under his lashes. "Sakura?"

"I'm fine."

"I didn't say you weren't."

She glared at him. Took a breath. "Did you see the body?"

Naruto paused before shaking his head. "No one's seen it. Not even Sasuke could get into the morgue."

"It wasn't a suicide then."

"Probably not," Sasuke said, coming in and leaning on the island in the kitchen.

Sakura looked back and forth between them. "Why is this bothering you two? I'm not bothered by this."

"It's wrong," Naruto said, his hands fisting. "He should have been tried for what he did to you! He should have—" he trailed off, looking away.

Sakura took a long breath, closing her eyes. "If he went to court, _I'd_ have gone to court. And I'd have to repeat everything that happened that night. Repeatedly, while I'd get questioned and hammered by the defense. I'd have to sit up there and lose my mind while I told a bunch of strangers how I almost choked the life out of him. Naruto, I am. Not. Upset. Not over this."

Naruto gaped at her. "He'd never have not been convicted! The teme and I would have—"

"Never let that happen?" Sakura asked. "Of course not. But then there was really no point in the trial to begin with, was there?"

Naruto just stared at her, his mouth hanging open before closing it slowly and straightening. "I'm not upset he's dead," he said. "I just don't agree with how it happened."

Sakura nodded and locked her jaw. "Neither am I. But I'm not sad he's dead." And she hoped it had hurt.

The past month had taught Sakura that growing up and feeling pain meant sometimes putting yourself first. Being selfish.

She chose to be selfish about this. To stop thinking about morals and right and wrong and simply let herself be angry. She covered her sadness and anxiety and depression with anger, and gave herself permission to do so. Forgave herself when it happened, and repeatedly told herself she didn't have to feel guilty of these thoughts. Over remembering choking Kidōmaru halfway to death. Of enjoying it, getting a spark of pleasure in knowing that she could cause that, that she could stop someone like Kidōmaru if need be.

She forgave herself for how things ended with her mother, her parents, even though logically she knew there was nothing wrong with what she had done. She deserved better. She deserved relationships with boundaries; not toxic relationships that hurt her more than helped her. She allowed herself let go of that relationship. She'd always care for her parents, but she was done with that part of her life. She got to be selfish with that, learning to say _enough_ and _no more_.

If she could do that with them, she could do it with the man who'd hurt her. She got to be angry about that, _deserved_ to be. She wouldn't let anyone make her feel guilty.

She'd make mistakes. Might hurt people along the way—probably would. And that was okay. Sakura would let herself make those mistakes, wouldn't let them control her life.

She didn't regret this. Wouldn't let herself.

Sasuke watched them both. He caught Sakura's eye and nodded.

Sakura walked away and went to bed.

* * *

Author's Note: Super short update, I know. But I cranked this out and was happy with it, and I felt that this couldn't be any longer of a chapter. So. Yeah.

Almost done! Then I'll work on something new. Maybe Vampire!Sakura. That will likely be a single pairing, maybe SakuraxPein? Tell me what y'all think in the comments!

Please REVIEW!


	11. Chapter 11

Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

The day Sakura got the news of Shisui's disappearance was also the day Mikoto came to visit.

"Sakura, sweetheart," Mikoto murmured, wrapping her in one of her hugs. "I haven't seen you in so long."

Sakura hugged her back, mind reeling as to how Mikoto had gotten into her apartment when both Naruto and Sasuke were at work. Sasuke could have given her a spare key, but she thought he would have told her about that.

Sakura had woken up on Saturday morning to find Mikoto in her kitchen, cooking pancakes and looking like she belonged there. Sakura had covered her surprise well enough, but the question must have been in her eyes.

Mikoto waved her hand in the air like she was shooing away her question. "I had an extra key made." Though Sakura noticed that didn't exactly explain how she'd gotten an extra key made, and if she'd gotten it through Sasuke.

Sakura figured she would be better off not knowing. (That seemed to be the overall feeling when it came to the Uchiha matriarch.)

Mikoto turned back to the oven, but not before Sakura caught sight of her red-rimmed eyes.

"Mikoto," Sakura began cautiously, "what happened?"

Mikoto just flipped a pancake, not looking back at her. "Oh, just some family drama, I'm afraid. It seems one of the boys hasn't been seen in a day or so, and while that's not horribly uncommon—"

"Which boy?"

"Pardon?"

"Which boy is missing, Mikoto?" Sakura said, her voice coming out strained and harsh.

"It's just Shisui, dear. Nothing to worry yourself over." Mikoto opened the cabinets to root around for plates.

Sakura froze, her lungs and gut on twisting. "He's missing?"

"I'm sure he just lost track of time or got hung up on some case or other," Mikoto said, voice light. She reached inside a drawer to take out two forks and two knives. "It _is_ Shisui, after all."

Shisui, who Mikoto loved like a son, but who wasn't actually a son. Who wasn't part of the main family branch. Who was only a cousin to Itachi and Sasuke. Whose disappearance was right after the flashdrive incident with Orochimaru and Kabuto.

Sakura wondered how much Mikoto knew. Probably all of it and more, Sakura hazard to guess. There was very little that happened in the Uchiha family that Mikoto was unaware of. There was a reason Mikoto was seen as one of the most powerful matriarchs in history.

Sakura blinked and looked down as her sleep T-shirt and pajama pants. "I'm going to go change."

"Breakfast is almost ready, sweetheart."

"I'll be quick," Sakura murmured. She had zero appetite, but she couldn't tell Mikoto that.

She called Pein.

"Where's Shisui?" Sakura demanded the moment Pein picked up. "Does it have to do with Orochimaru?"

A pause and almost silent sigh. "We're dealing with it."

" _Do not push me, Pein_. What's going on?"

There was some moving around on the other end of the phone, some background noise, some talking. "As you've probably guessed, Shisui is our runner. He makes deliveries and is one of the people to make sure transactions go according to plan. Two days ago he made contact with one of Orochimaru's men, made a deal to get information on where he might be located." A pause. "It didn't go according to plan."

Sakura closed her eyes. "Does Orochimaru have him?"

"Most likely, yes."

"Do you know how to find him?" She wouldn't think about the crates in the warehouse. Wouldn't think about Kabuto's file and the experimentation he was so fond of.

Two days. He'd been taken _two days ago_.

So much could happen in two days.

"We have ideas," Pein said cautiously. "We will find him, Sakura." His tone was of a leader; it did not leave room for doubt.

She hung up. Mikoto was in the kitchen, and her nephew was missing. God, if there was ever a time when Sakura loathed the complicated Uchiha politics of branch families more, she couldn't think of it.

Mikoto was in the kitchen, and she wasn't worried.

 _"_ _It's just Shisui, dear."_

Mikoto was in the kitchen, and no one seemed to care.

 _"_ _We will find him, Sakura."_

Mikoto was in the kitchen, and the pancakes were burning.

 _"_ _Until next time, Sakura-chan!"_

Sakura ran out of the house.

* * *

It was so stupid. Really, really stupid.

It took her a while, but Sakura finally found Kakashi. She didn't know where he lived, as it was a weekend, but she knew some of his regular haunts. One, in particular, being an adult book store.

He was in one of the narrow aisles, giggling under his scarf, when Sakura grabbed him roughly by the arm and nearly threw him into the bookshelf.

He blinked down at her, for the first time she'd ever seen him, taken off guard. "Sakura-chan?"

She ground her teeth together. "I need to know about you and Tobi."

He froze, his muscles iron and unyielding. Sakura thought about the accident no one spoke of. How Kakashi had a Uchiha eye, even though he wasn't a Uchiha himself. About a young childhood friend who died. How somehow this was all linked together.

"I don't know what—"

"Shisui is _missing_ , Kakashi," she whispered harshly. "And no one seems to care. Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me yours and Tobi's secrets aren't related to Orochimaru. Go ahead, _lie to me_."

He blinked down at her looking . . . looking _frightened_. God, and didn't that just make her conscious bleed a little? But she needed information, true facts, and she didn't trust anyone else to give it to her.

"I know about Rin," she said. She ignored his ragged inhale. "I know about you and Tobi—or should I call him Obito, instead?—and I know about her death."

His scarf moved with the bounce of his swallow, and Kakashi's hands came up to lock around her forearms, not to move her away, but just to keep her there. He took a shuddering breath. "If we're going to talk about this, we're going to need alcohol."

"Not _Red Dawn_."

"No," Kakashi agreed. "Come on."

He led her around the block of the shady little adult book store and into an even shadier looking bar. And even though it was still early afternoon on a Saturday, there were about five other men in there and one low-cut shirt-wearing bartender.

Kakashi ordered a bottle of vodka, and drank it straight. Sakura ordered a coke.

"Growing up, Obito, Rin, and I were all best friends," he began, not looking at Sakura. "We spent most of our time at the Uchiha estate, but Rin also came from a prominent clan. She didn't like being home."

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. "But that's not important. What happened was we were all out on Uchiha property up north, near the mountains. Obito took us there for a weekend vacation. My father . . ." He swallowed thickly. "My father had just committed suicide. He was in debt up to his eyeballs, and the pressure and gambling just got to be too much for him, I guess."

Sakura felt her throat close up, and she gripped the edge of the table until her nails cut in. But she didn't interrupt.

"Orochimaru didn't use to be an enemy of the Uchihas. He was once a business partner. The Uchihas can be . . . ruthless, as I'm guessing you've figured out. The previous patriarch, before Fugaku, was not a moral man. He bought and sold to Orochimaru for different, medical advances. Things that made him a lot of money and gave the Uchiha clan a heavy hand in the medical community, and gave Orochimaru the money and equipment to carry out his own personal experiments and such." Kakashi paused to take another sip of his vodka, not even shuddering as it dripped down his throat. "You've seen the files on him and Kabuto. You can fill in the gaps. But at that time, Orochimaru was mostly interested in Uchiha genes."

Sakura narrowed her eyes.

"He wanted a test subject. Say what you will about the ruthlessness of the Uchiha clan, but they protect their own. Or at least, the patriarch did. He wouldn't even give up a branch family member, fearing what Orochimaru would do with whatever information he found."

Sakura wasn't sure that was the case with Shisui. She knew Mikoto cared about him, knew she was in her kitchen that morning to get her mind off things, take care of Sakura and maybe to keep an eye on her, but that didn't change the fact that had it been Sasuke or Itachi missing, Mikoto would have been breathing fire down everyone's neck until they were found.

Kakashi took a breath. "What we didn't know was that Orochimaru had set his sights on Obito. He was a branch family member, and both his parents were dead. As far as an Uchiha family member, he was expendable, and Orochimaru knew it.

"We didn't know it at the time, but Orochimaru followed us up to the Uchiha estate that weekend. No one else was around except for maids and the cooks; we were considered old enough to take care of ourselves at that point, and most everyone left us alone in wake of what my father had done." Bitterness leaked into his voice, long forgotten and having been burning on coals on these years.

"The whole cave story about Obito saving me but loosing Rin was made up by the Uchiha elders to keep away the scandal of Orochimaru's betrayal. No one outside the elders and patriarch even knew about the dealings with Orochimaru, you see, so no one could know afterwards, either." Kakashi's grip on the table tightened. "Rin's family was told the same story. And the Uchiha elders suddenly paid off all my father's debts and set up a nice little inheritance for me out of nowhere. And Obito . . . well, Obito just lost his mind."

"I don't understand," Sakura said slowly.

Kakashi chuckled lowly. "Orochimaru followed us up to the mountains that weekend and held us all for two days while Obito was experimented on while Rin and I watched. After a while, Orochimaru had the lovely idea to try to implant one of Obito's special Uchiha eyes in me." He reached up to touch his eye, almost without realizing it before suddenly pulling his fingers away, like it burned. "Rin watched the whole thing. There were no painkillers given to us, and whenever one of us would pass out, Orochimaru would just wait until we woke up again to start all over. He gave us just enough through IV's to keep us alive, knew how to stop the bleeding enough to not kill us."

He ran a hand down his face. "After a while—one day, maybe a day and a half at this point—Rin was clever enough to get out of the cage Orochimaru had put her in. She tried to get both Obito and me out, but both of us were so weak at that point—it was just useless.

"Orochimaru found us all, and ended up tying Rin down along with us while he took his frustration out on her. Whatever he wanted to happened when he implanted Obito's eye in me didn't work, and he—he just _lost_ it," Kakashi croaked. "He had his whole hand in Rin's chest, rooting around. She screamed so much—until she didn't. She just . . . stopped at some point. Obito and I _begged_. We begged for him to stop, cut ourselves open on the tables we were strapped to trying to get out."

Kakashi took a shuddering breath. Sakura blinked back the water gathering in her eyes, found herself more pissed off than saddened, her hands fists in her lap, nails digging into flesh. "Finally, Orochimaru just left. Rin was dead, and we laid there with her body for some time after. I don't know how long. That's when I think Obito really lost his mind. You'd be surprised at what staring at your friend's corpse can do to a person."

Sakura didn't doubt it.

"At some point, one of the maids from the estate wandered into the cave. They'd been looking for us, and there were search parties. A poor maid found us, nearly fainted when she found us all, surrounded by blood. I think she thought Obito and I were dead too. Can't blame her." He looked down at his hands, reached one hand up to fiddle with his scarf.

"After that, the Uchiha clan just made it all go away. Those maids and cooks were just gone. Rin's family was given the tale about a rock slide in the caves, as were Obito and I."

For the first time since starting his tale, Kakashi looked up at Sakura, his expressed hard, his voice iron. "They sat us down and explained to us how we were _mistaken_ , how it was just a rock slide. How we couldn't tell anyone of what happened, we were so distressed. My father's scandal was pushed away like dirty laundry, and all I was asked to do was to keep my mouth shut and stay away from the Uchihas."

He gave a humorless chortle. "I made things quite difficult for them all. I tried to stay with Obito, but he just kept calling himself Tobi. He pretended he didn't know what happened, even though I could see that he knew _exactly_ what was going on around him. He understood the politics of his family, even then."

"Is that how you found the Akatsuki?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi nodded. "The Akatsuki was made up soon after that. Obito joined, and I didn't, but I kept in contact. That was the beginning."

Sakura paused, fiddled with a piece of wood coming apart from the table with her thumbnail. "Kakashi," he said, hesitant. "Was Madara the patriarch?"

He froze, gaze calculating. "I'm seeing more and more what the Akatsuki sees when they look at you, Sakura-chan." He sighed at her look. "Yes, Madara was the patriarch. He stepped down and let Fugaku take his place after Rin died and Obito and I were tortured. He blamed himself, I think, and didn't know a better way to handle things."

"So he started Akatsuki."

"So he started Akatsuki," Kakashi agreed. "And let Pein lead, because he no longer wanted to."

Sakura tried to grunge up some disappointment in Madara for working with Orochmaru, for Kakashi for staying silent for so long and letting the Uchiha elders silence him. But she found none. What she felt, instead, was _rage_.

Kakashi eyed her.

Two days. Orochimaru had Kakashi and Obito and Rin for two days before anyone even thought to look for them. Before they were found.

Shisui had already been missing for two days.

Orochimaru had had his hand in Rin's chest. Had cut out Obito's eye and molded him into Tobi, a fictional creature. Made Kakashi broken and alone and destroyed by a close friendship.

Sakura ordered a margarita.

After the bartender brought her drink and answered her nod with a grunt, Kakashi sighed. "Sakura-chan," he said, "what are you going to do?"

She looked at him, played with her tiny straws. He looked worn around the edges, like a dull razor. She thought about apologizing for all that he'd been through, as that seemed to be the socially acceptable thing, but if it had been her that would never be what she'd want to hear. And from looking at Kakashi, the thing he needed wasn't an apology from someone who had no idea what he'd gone through. No, he needed someone to help him put an end to his nightmares.

Just like Sakura needed to put an end to hers.

A slow smile played at the corners of her mouth. "I'm going to ruin them all." She licked her lips and looked at Kakashi—who sat slouched, yet was obviously a predator under that carefully nonchalant attitude—and looked at him through her lashes as she bent her head to take a sip of her fruity drink. "Wanna help?"

A tilt of the head and eye crinkle were her answer.

* * *

Author's Note: This was so close to being so much longer (it had even crossed my mind to make this chapter the last chapter of this story and just make it really long), but I felt that I was just throwing so much new information at you guys and I needed to end it sooner.

Tell me how ya'll feel about this new chapter and all that it entails! I try to keep as close to the manga series as possible while putting my own spin on things at times. I hope I do it justice.

The gloves are coming off, you guys. Sakura's going to get a little crazy here soon. A little more bloodthirsty. Our girl's not too happy about Shisui's disappearance, even less happy about not finding out about it two days after the fact. I always felt that she and Kakashi could make a really kickass team.

Your reviews could totally be a birthday present to me. ;P Today (July 3rd) is my birthday! Yay! I wasn't going to update but this epiphany just hit me, and the muse can be ridiculously stubborn.

Please favorite and **REVIEW**! It makes my day.


	12. Chapter 12

Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

It was Zetsu she sought out.

"This is a **delectable** surprise, Sakura-chan," he purred into her hair. Somehow Zetsu had managed to wind his way around her body, so he had one arm around her waist and another hand running through her pink hair. His voice was right next to her ear, so close she could feel his breath. "I haven't seen you in so long. Staying away from you increases my **eating-humans tendencies**."

She blinked slowly at him. She never could tell when he was kidding or not. Probably didn't really _want_ to know.

"I need a favor," Sakura said as Zetsu continued to smell her hair. _Honestly_ , though. "And I don't completely trust the others to give me all the straight answers."

Zetsu hummed. "Is this about the **Uchiha brat**? Pein still feels guilty about losing your trust, flower-chan."

Sakura shrugged one shoulder. "He hasn't lost all my trust," she mused. "I just . . . would feel better getting this information from you right now. Pein didn't even tell me Shisui was missing; _Mikoto_ had to be the one to tell me."

"Pein wasn't sure Orochimaru had Shisui at the beginning. They didn't want to worry you for no reason, **rotting bastards though they are.** "

Sakura had to hold back her sneer at that. Zetsu may have had a point. If Shisui had just been working late on a case—which had happened before—and just hadn't told anyone for some reason, or the others just assuming another person knew of Shisui's whereabouts, was one thing. So Sakura _did_ understand why neither Pein nor any of the others told her about Shisui's disappearance. She wasn't mad about that.

But still. After the flashdrive incident Sakura would have thought everyone would have been a little more worried after a day of not hearing from one person.

But none of that really mattered right then. "Will you help me or not?" Sakura asked, not unkindly. She wasn't sure if Zetsu would get in trouble with Pein for helping her, but Zetsu had always hit her as a man with his own agenda. Sort of with the Akatsuki and sort of with only himself.

Or both themselves, if she was being completely honest.

"Of course we'll help you, pretty Sakura-chan. **But it will cost you.** "

She almost scoffed. She'd figured as much.

"What do you want?"

"Hmm. Perhaps a simple _I-owe-you_ for now? **One might just come in handy later.** "

Sakura swallowed. Zetsu might be drawn to her in the same ways all the Akatsuki members were, but that didn't mean she trusted him. Probably trusted him less, even. "Fine. What do you know about Orochimaru and where might he have taken Shisui?"

He weaved a hand down her arm until he was at her palm, drew it up to his mouth to nip at her fingertips. " **The snake bastard has a thing for abandoned warehouses.** Quite cliché, really. His protégé prefers cleanlier housing for his work."

"Orochimaru has Shisui at a warehouse?"

"A _clean_ warehouse." Zetsu shrugged. "Do you really expect to find the **Uchiha brat alive?** "

She hadn't really let herself think that far ahead. "It doesn't really matter. The sooner Orochimaru and Kabuto are dead, the better."

Zetsu titled his head at her and smiled with all his sharp teeth on display. "Funny how you say ' _dead_ ' and not ' _stopped_ ' or ' _arrested_.' **Not that I'm complaining** , of course."

"Is there really a difference?" Sakura shot back. "I doubt arresting him will be a permanent fixture, and simply stopping him seems impossible. Killing him, however, is probable."

"Hmm. **How delectably morbid you are, flower-chan**." He grinned. "You are likely right, however." Zetsu frowned suddenly. His one-eighty emotional changes were going to give her whiplash. "I, too, cannot wait for the **snake bastard** to finally be gone."

He looked down at her and grinned again, all childish glee. "May I **eat him** when you are done **killing him?** You can even **chop him up first, make him easier to chew.** "

Sakura side-eyed him. "I can never tell when you're kidding or not."

"I'm always serious, Sakura-chan. **_Dead_** **serious**."

She rolled her eyes. "You're such a little fucker, you know that?"

Zetsu rubbed his face in her hair. "I'd love to fu—"

She cut him off with a growl. "Don't. _Even_. Hidan is already bad enough as it is."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "I could **eat him** for you?"

"Shut up," she grumbled, a smile playing at her lips. "So Orochimaru has Shisui at some warehouse. Do you know where?"

Zetsu looked mildly offended. You know, for a plant. " **Obviously.** "

She raised an eyebrow. "Annddd?"

He licked his lips. "There is a place by the river a little ways east. Surrounded by fishing ports and touristy spots. **Annoying little place**. I'll text you the address."

Sakura crossed her arms. "And you're sure this is where Shisui is?"

"My intel is **ruthless** , Sakura-chan," Zetsu purred. She wasn't sure how to take that, but whatever.

She turned so she could poke him in the chest, just hard enough with her nail to get her point across. "If this turns out to be faulty intel, I'll be very, _very_ angry, Zetsu," she purred right back.

Zetsu leaned in close, a hairs breath away from her mouth. "Oh, I learned ages ago how sharp your claws are, pretty little Sakura-chan. Don't fret—I, too, have a **hunger** that needs to be **sated** when it comes to **the snake bastard**."

Sakura believed him.

Her phone chirped with the address Zetsu texted her. When she looked down at it, her eyebrows raised. "Really? I've been in that area a dozen times."

Touristy area, indeed. Sakura had walked that pier with Ino and Karin before, looking into little nick-knack stores and going into overpriced coffee shops. But she supposed from the warehouse she and Kakashi and Yamato had been at the other day and how it was surrounded by nice places, it shouldn't have come as a surprise to her where it was located.

" **The snake bastard** has a sense of irony, I suppose."

Sakura untangled herself from Zetsu's arms before making her way towards the door. His voice drew her back one more time. "And Sakura-chan? **Remember your end of the bargain,** would you?"

There was something in his voice that probably should have alerted Sakura, but all she was running on was anger and a loathing for Orochimaru and Kabuto unlike she'd ever felt, burning on low and simmering. "Will do."

Sakura left to the sound of Zetsu chuckling.

* * *

It had been roughly two and a half days since Shisui disappeared.

Sakura had come back to Mikoto cleaning her kitchen. The burned pancakes had been cleared away, the dishes and pans thrown into the dish washer. Mikoto had looked up upon her entrance with red-rimmed eyes and simply said, "Tell him I'm sorry, would you? My . . . my hands are tied with the clan elders and . . . and I can't _do_ anything."

There was disgust in her voice, not for the clan elders but for herself. Sakura understood. The clan elders wouldn't want any of the Uchihas looking for Shisui, because if they did and it got out one of them was missing and taken by Orochimaru, everything else would come to light. They were saving their own reputations.

And Mikoto—lovely, gentle Mikoto, with a spine of steel couldn't do anything as the Uchiha matriarch.

Sakura suddenly understood why it was she had found Mikoto in her kitchen with burning pancakes that morning.

She nodded and handed Mikoto a tissue box that had been sitting beside the living room couch as Mikoto settled in at one of the kitchen stools.

Then she called Sasuke.

"Hn. What is it, Sakura?"

"Did you know Shisui's missing?"

He did not, and from the screaming in the background, neither did Naruto. She explained to them the morning's events, leaving out the part with Kakashi. That was his secret to tell, not hers.

They agreed to meet her at the address she texted them.

"Are you going to tell the Akatsuki?" Sasuke asked before she could hang up.

She hesitated. Weighed it. Swallowed her pride. "I'll call them."

"Hn."

Sakura knew him well enough to tell that he knew she was leaving something out, but he trusted her enough to keep secrets. Sometimes knowing someone so perfectly meant knowing they kept secrets that weren't theirs to tell, and to trust them enough to understand they may never know everything about that person.

Before Sakura called the Akatsuki, she texted Kakashi the address. He would know what it meant. And he would likely bring Yamato. Or Yamato would simply tag along. (Either/or.)

Sakura weighed her phone in her hand, chewing her bottom lip. Who should she call? Which of the Akatsuki would be the best to bare the news?

She thought of calling Pein, but immediately dismissed it.

She hesitated once more, then dialed the number from her contacts.

"Sakura-chan," the voice purred over the line. Sakura swallowed. "To what do I owe this _delicious_ surprise?"

"Madara," she choked out, suddenly heavy with emotion. Maybe it shouldn't change things, knowing he had once been the head of the Uchiha clan. How her version of Madara—silly and never serious, up on a stage in a night club, constantly pestering her with questions on what where her preferred colors and the flower arrangements she'd like at their wedding—was so at odds with this new version of him. The version who made deals with Orochimaru and who—though unintendedly—set in motion the events of Kakashi and Obito's torture, Rin's death.

"I know everything."

There was a long pause, and Sakura had to lower her phone from her ear at one point to make sure he hadn't hung up on her. Finally, his voice came down the line. "I'm sorry you had to find out like this," he murmured, sounding so damn defeated and tired. "I would have told you eventually, but . . ."

"It wasn't your secret to tell," Sakura finished. She thought of Tobi. "Shisui's missing."

Some shuffling on the other end of the phone before he spoke again, hesitant. "I'm aware."

She nodded, even though no one was around to see. "I know where he's being held. Orochimaru and Kabuto are likely there too. I'm texting you the address now."

"How?"

"Zetsu," Sakura simply answered.

A pause as she texted him the address. The air between them was tense and palpable; Sakura not knowing what to do with it.

It had never been like this before. Madara was goofy and annoyingly possessive of her, not unsure and guilt-ridden. It didn't fit him.

Sakura sighed heavily. "Don't do this. I don't see you any differently, Madara. It wasn't your secret to tell."

"You're too kind, Sakura-chan," he murmured, so softly she could barely hear him. "I don't deserve it."

"Bullshit," she sang. "You made a mistake and there was an unforeseen consequence. Not your fault. You were just trying to help your clan, right? Orochimaru, for all the evil he is, still had amazing medical research that was useable, and it helped people, didn't it?"

Honestly, Sakura was grasping at straws here. She knew that Madara working with Orochimaru was likely for the purpose of gaining more power for the clan, but that didn't mean Orochimaru's information and lab results weren't useful in the scientific community. She'd even bet that some of his research was life changing for some people.

From Madara's silence, Sakura bet she wasn't wrong to assume that.

"It did," Madara sighed. "But I used him for the clan and didn't care who I hurt along the way."

"I don't expect you to be perfect," Sakura said simply. "You dealt with everything well enough—as well as you could."

Again, she didn't know for sure if this was true, but it felt right to say. She couldn't think about what she would have done in his situation, because at that point nothing seemed to be the right answer.

"Well, let's make it better," Sakura said. "Shisui's missing and I—and now you—have the address of where he is. Tell Pein and Akatsuki. Tell _Tobi_."

A rough inhale. "Alright." He cleared his throat. "We'll meet you there, Sakura-chan." A pause. "Thank you."

She hung up and got into her car.

* * *

She met up with Kakashi a half hour later at the address Zetsu had given her. He obviously had just come as he was when Sakura texted him the address, dressed down in jeans and a long-sleeved black buttoned shirt. One hand was in his pocket and he stood stock-still near the pier.

He wasn't wearing a scarf.

It took Sakura a second to take this in. She'd spotted him from her car (which she'd had to parallel park and it had only taken her give-or-take five minutes, thank you very much) due to his white, wild hair. But he'd turned, and she'd seen a long fingered hand go up to his mouth with a cigarette. To his mouth. Without a scarf in the way.

Sakura blinked rapidly and got out of the car. She jogged over to him, looking at Kakashi over the rim of her sunglasses. He grinned down at her, and Sakura was proud to note that she did not gasp at the sight.

Kakashi Hatake was undeniably _hot_.

She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting under his scarf, but it sure hadn't been chiseled cheekbones and full lips and straight teeth like that. It hadn't been the wide, almost goofy crooked grin he gave her—the very one that gave him his eye crinkles.

Sakura swallowed and tried not to gape. "What happened to your scarf?"

Kakashi had already thrown his cigarette to the ground upon her appearance, and now he ground his leather shoes over it even more and shrugged. "I figured it was time to stop hiding," he said.

Sakura accepted this easily enough, running her finger over the scar on her hand without thinking. She was wearing a long gray sweater and some black, tight fitting yoga pants. It was unusually warm for the current time of year, and especially that day. She tugged her sleeve down over her hand, biting her lip and nodding.

"Is Yamato coming, too?" she asked.

Kakashi nodded and looked over her shoulder. Sakura turned to look as well.

Yamato came jogging out of one of the gift stores nearby, calling a greeting to Sakura and eyeing Kakashi like he was a ticking time bomb. Kakashi just wiggled his fingers in Yamato's direction.

They made their way towards the warehouse next to the river, waiting for the rest of the Akatsuki to show up. Sakura's body was humming with the knowledge that Shisui was close, that he was a few walls away, possible dying, probably in a lot of pain. She wanted to dig her nails in something to make it bleed at the thought.

The Akatsuki did not show up in a group, as Sakura might have expected. Instead, they were positioned in different spots around the warehouse, catching Sakura's eye when they'd pass by, but nothing else. Sakura understood—it would be a bit obvious if suddenly a large group of interesting characters suddenly made their way to the warehouse that likely was known for housing illegal and despicable things. Such as stolen Uchiha members.

In the end, entering the warehouse was simple. Sakura had already assumed that Orochimaru and Kabuto likely knew they were coming. They were not fools, and one did not capture Shisui Uchiha without using him as bait, which was what they likely wanted.

A few windows were broken, a few guards' neck were snapped and taken out a quickly and quietly as possible. It was Madara and Itachi who took up most of the work, both working silently side-by-side. Sakura, Kakashi, and Yamato stood outside, waiting.

After another two minutes had passed once both Madara and Itachi had been inside, not one sound being heard, Kakashi heaved a great sigh and tapped Sakura on the shoulder. He smiled down at her and gestured to the side of the warehouse, where she knew was a window Kakashi wanted to break into.

There was not so much as a plan as there was a silent agreement between all parties involved to not do something stupid. There was no time, and Shisui had been gone long enough.

As Sakura and Kakashi crept over to the side of the warehouse—acutely aware of the surveillance cameras positioned in the trees in the area as well as around the building and taking care to stay out of their way—Yamato followed along without comment.

Sakura saw a flash of color out of the corner of her eye. She swung her head around to see Naruto grinning goofily at her and Sasuke up in a tree, dismantling one of the cameras. Sasuke looked over at them and scowled, giving up on taking out the camera cleanly and instead pulling a knife out of his pocket and then jammed it into the thing. He took care of the rest of the nearby cameras with some well-aimed thrown knifes and nearly silent bullets. Luckily there was no one around this area at the moment, or someone would be bound to notice the angry looking blue haired dyed dude with knifes and a gun.

Kakashi fiddled with the window a bit, but it was not as easy to open as the window as the other warehouse had been, and gave up after a moment to just knock the glass out with the back of his gun.

Sakura, too, had a glossy black gun in her palms, along with a few knives tucked into her clothes. Yamato was not armed, but Sakura didn't doubt he had weapons hidden.

Kakashi was the first to jump over, taking a moment to clear the area, and helped Sakura get over the broken glass. The first thing she noticed was the wooden crates, and she couldn't help but think about the crates in the last warehouse, the ones with body parts in them. However, while all of those crates had been closed lidded, some of these ones were still open, obviously still in the process of being loaded.

She stepped over the broken glass on the floor to get a better look into one of the open crates, readying herself for something horrific to stare back at her. Instead, she got an eyeful of paper. Documents and notebooks and things that made her think about the little notebook that had been handed over to Orochimaru at the last warehouse.

She reached in and randomly selected one of the notebooks, something spiral bound that reminded her of the notebooks she'd buy for one of her classes to take notes in. Her stomach rolled.

Inside were notes. Notes upon notes upon notes. They were in different colored inks and written by different people, writing over and around each other like they were desperate to get their own thoughts and experiments in and heard. Sakura caught words like _test subjects_ and _vials X-Z_ and _chromosomes_ and _flu toxins and antibodies_ and _sharingans_ and _familial genes_. Many of the phrases Sakura had heard of but did not understand; others she had simply never heard of at all.

Some pages had drawings and diagrams. One page was fully dedicated to lists upon lists of the pros and cons of anti-virus techniques, of splicing genes and taking the knowns of strong ones and incubating them in lesser ones. Another had detailed theorems on the mental capacity of a person, on mental health and the idea that certain parts of the brain could be controlled using very particular familial genes and making the brain _think_ everything was alright. The writer was pathological about tricking the brain at its own game after a handful of treatments of having the person sit in a chair and being shown pictures of certain things, of black crosses and crows and red eyes and then being able to trick the brain into seeing different things, believing different things to be real. Narcissistically and violent, this writer was.

Sakura flipped through the notebook at an alarming rate. Then tossed it aside and picked up a leather-bound journal. Read words about treatments and experiments, some legal and some not. About test subjects, varying from humans to animals to a handful of cells or bacteria under a microscope.

Some of it was ingenious. Others were disturbing and ruthless and made her stomach turn over. Most was pathological.

A hand slipped over Sakura's shoulder to gently remove the notebook from her hands. She flinched and turned her head to see Sasuke, frowning and touching the notebook like it was something contagious. His eyes flitted over the chaotic words with distaste until he sneered and tossed it back into the wooden crate. He shook his head at her, one solid motion.

Sakura fisted her now empty hands and growled low under her breath, "We need to find Shisui."

What she really meant was, _We need to kill Orochimaru_.

Madara and Itachi were much farther into the warehouse, which became more and more obvious as they all wandered through the aisles and in-between wooden crates filled with horrors. Dead and almost-dead and wishing-they-were-dead men were gathered along the floors. Some were leaking blood and saliva or a disgusting mix of both. Sakura looked only long enough to see that they were not going to move anytime soon and then continued on.

Sakura didn't think it was odd how only Madara and Itachi were the ones in the building, how they were seemingly the only ones to ever be thought of as the first in line to save Shisui. Both were Uchihas: Madara as the post-patriarch of the horror that was Obito and Kakashi's childhood; Itachi as Shisui's best friend and cousin.

The rest of the Akatsuki were outside, content to wait and watch and be there for backup, but this—this was for them.

It didn't take as long as Sakura had expected for Kakashi and Yamato to disappear. Honestly, she was even surprised they'd stuck around long enough for them all to get into the warehouse. When Naruto noticed they were missing from the rear of their little pose, he swore viciously and a bit too loudly.

Sakura caught his sleeve before he could go running back the way they came. "They're _fine_ , Naruto. Trust them."

"Someone might have caught them!"

Sakura didn't bother to point out that the likelihood of Madara and Itachi missing anyone was slim to none. "Trust Kakashi, Naruto. He's not defenseless." And when he still looked unimpressed, added, "And Yamato's there to rein him in."

It wasn't the best argument, but it got Naruto to turn back around and continue on. She, Naruto, and Sasuke had to get through the maze-like room of crates and boxes, and Sakura was annoyed to find out just how large of a warehouse this was, and with just how many rooms.

Mostly, they just followed the trail of bodies until they came upon a room with a closed metal door. It was nothing fancy or odd, but when Sakura touched the metal handle, she had to bite back her yelp at just how ice cold it was.

She swallowed and opened the door, Naruto and Sasuke right there with her and guns drawn. At first, Sakura had to blink and . . . blink some more.

The room was just full of _lights_. On the ceiling, on the walls, hanging from odd places. She didn't understand at first.

Then she registered the cold.

It was the kind of ice cold that trailed its claws up and down your spine. The kind of cold that crept in when you slept without good heating on a winters night, and woke up only to have to throw back the covers and step down with bare, warm feet onto the carpet-less ground.

It was like walking into a freezer.

Which it obviously was, Sakura noted. There were some crates in there as well, and while some were still open, Sakura knew these were not ones she would want to look into. Nothing that had to be kept at these kinds of temperatures was ever good to look at when it came to people like Kabuto and Orochimaru.

It explained why the door handle had been so cold. Everything was metal in the room sans the wooden crates, though Sakura noted that even some of those were, in fact, metal as well. Those likely contained more valuable items, and all of the metal ones were sealed shut and stacked atop each other to likely preserve the temperature.

It _was_ a warmer day outside, after all.

Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke all paused there, right at the entrance into the room while the door shut behind them, not moving, not breathing. It was a stupid thing to do, but they took everything in for a mere moment before all jumping for cover behind the nearest crates, even though it appeared there was no one else in the room with them.

After a deafening moment of silence, Sasuke gestured at them to keep moving. And keep moving they did.

More crates, both wooden and metal. More lights. More coldness.

It appeared that the farther they moved into the long, narrow room the colder it got. Sakura was shivering, and she could see both Naruto and Sasuke moving quicker to raise their body temperatures.

They had been moving another few paces before they heard the first sound, the first voice.

It was a scream.

Unidentifiable, but still a scream. It could be Madara and Itachi taking out another guard. Or it could be Shisui.

Neither Sakura, Naruto, or Sasuke broke stride. They moved a little faster, yes, because that was all they really could do. All had noticed the lack of bodies on the floor of this room and none had commented on it.

Another few steps and they saw it. _It_ , being the body tied to a long, horizontal table with a slight incline to where the head was located, almost like so the person strapped in could pier down at their own body if they so desired to watch whatever horror was being put upon their person.

Sakura saw the mess of black curls and felt something break open inside her, hot and vicious and clawing for murder.

She also noticed the lack of movement.

Then she noticed the three bodies standing around the table—one behind the table near where the head was, the other two side-by-side across the way, where his feet were.

A scalpel was being held to Shisui's throat, and Sakura could barely make out the trickle of blood from the cut there. This partially was due to how far away she was from Shisui and also because it was a tad difficult to differentiate between the blood flowing down from the cut on his throat and all the blood leaking down his face from his eyes.

Sakura had always thought the Uchihas rocked the colors red and black. They were the colors of the Uchiha crest, the colors most members seemed to be so fond of, the same colors _Red Dawn_ was made up of.

But seeing it now, all that red, made Sakura wish to never see it again—not on Shisui, not on Itachi, not on Sasuke, not on _anyone_.

Orochimaru took note of their presence then. He smiled a long and slick closed lip stretch of skin. "Ah! Sakura-chan has chosen to join us at last! Lovely, lovely—do come in, sweetheart." His voice was oily over the pet name.

His eyes flicked towards both Naruto and Sasuke on either side of her. "And it seems she brought friends! How gracious of her, wouldn't you say, Shisui Uchiha?" He chortled.

Sakura slowed down to come up to both Madara and Itachi, who were posed there at Shisui's tied down feet, guns drawn but not raised. Sakura took note and did the same. She forced her gaze away from Shisui's face— _red and red and so much fucking red_ —to gaze uninterestedly at Orochimaru.

"Usually I'd complement you on your hospitality, but that would be a lie," she remarked dryly. Her legs felt shaky and the ground felt uneven, but she steeled herself and thought of how all the red would look splattered across Orochimaru's face.

As Orochimaru had said: _Lovely_.

* * *

Author's Note: Super short update, but I'm trying to draw this finale out as long as possible. Bet you all thought I'd forgotten about Zetsu, huh? Naw. He's still useful, and how about his little bargain with Sakura, hmm? That might be fun.

Please favorite and **REVIEW**! As I always say, more comments means quicker updates! ;P


	13. Chapter 13

Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

Itachi and Madara were tense, warm bodies in this too cold room beside her. They hid their anxiety well, both using that stone-faced gift all Uchihas seemed to be born with. Well, all Uchihas except Shisui, it seemed.

Sakura forced herself to not look at Shisui, to not take inventory of his wounds or if his chest was rising up and down. She looked at Orochimaru through a hooded gaze, leaning her weight on one foot nonchalantly. If she could just divert his attention from the bleeding body on the table to her, to her sharp words thrown at him like knifes . . . then maybe, maybe they'd get an opening.

Orochimaru was chuckling, and it sounded like the rattling of something about to break. "Pretty little Sakura-chan. I can't tell you how happy I am that you're here for this. It's been a long time coming, you know." His snake-like eyes slithered over to Madara. "I wonder, have you heard the story yet, of how the great Madara Uchiha lost his hubris and reputation because of the death of an innocent child?"

At that moment Sakura was beyond grateful that Kakashi had told her everything; Orochimaru was trying to throw her off, to get a reaction out of her and see just how much she knew, if they were all still keeping secrets from her. "Oh?" she drawled. "That story? Seemed like you had more to do with the death of ' _an innocent child'_ than anyone else."

He quirked his head at her. Sakura froze. "I suppose you are correct, Sakura-chan. Little Rin was cleverer than I had expected. A pity that she couldn't be more useful." He sighed, like her death was something that simply couldn't have been prevented, like she died of an illness or natural disaster. Like it was simply something that _was_. "I admit I lost my temper, but Obito was not as . . . gifted as I'd expected."

Sakura licked her lips. "Gifted?"

"The Uchiha gene is very particular. What would you say if I told you that, if replicated, could cure certain defects in children?"

"I . . . don't understand." She really didn't. This was more than likely the ravings of a madman, but . . . there was still that annoyingly little voice in her head—the scientific, selfish, and greedy part of her—that was curious. That wanted to know about the mere possibility of such a thing. The things that it could accomplish.

She'd seen the journals and entries. Maybe that was why some of the crates had been left open—so she could see and read about experiments already done and see that, though through extreme methods, some of them paid off. Some of them worked. It was the reason Madara had first made deals with Orochimaru, after all.

Orochimaru drew his gaze up and down her figure, and Sakura had to repress a shudder. "Genes—genetics—are a peculiar thing. Why do you have pink hair and green eyes? Because it was passed down to you from previous generations. Because even though neither of your parents have pink hair, they were carriers. Now, pink hair—while unique and pretty, don't misunderstand, Sakura-chan—is, at its core, useless. But it makes one wonder how it came to be from the beginning. If religion is to be believed and the first humans were Adam and Eve and, say, Adam was blond and Eve was brunette, how did someone like you, generations and generations down the road, end up with pink hair? Were they both carriers? And if so, what about people with black or red hair? They couldn't have been carriers of all of them. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it?"

Sakura was only half paying attention. The thing about narcissists was that they saw themselves as gods, and the thing about people who saw themselves as gods was that they liked to talk. It was all very tedious in Sakura's opinion and she was more focused on Shisui and the fact that she could not see his chest moving and that considerably worried her.

"Is there something to be gained from this little scientific and religion rant, or are you just talking to hear yourself talk?" Madara growled.

Orochimaru continued as if he hadn't spoken. "The Uchiha clan carries an interesting gene in their eyes, you see. I'm sure you've noticed their habit of getting red eyes when their emotions are running high. That's enough to warrant some kind of attention, but then there's also the fact that the Uchihas are seemingly perfect at _everything_."

He waved the hand not occupied by holding the scalpel to Shisui's throat around lazily in the air. "Now this could just be due to stern raising and good luck, but even those things are not effective on everyone. It's simply impossible. So it must come down to something in their basic makeup," Orochimaru went on.

"Get to your point already," Madara snarled.

"There is something in their makeup that prevents the Uchihas from getting sick. Mental sickness, common cold sickness, everything." Orochimaru locked eyes with Sakura, and it was abundantly clear to everyone in the room this whole debacle was for _her_. "Think about it, little Sakura-chan. We all know Obito—or shall I refer to him as Tobi?—is faking his little split persona. The Uchiha genes are not as strong in him since he is not part of the main branch—something I sincerely regret, as his . . . operation was a failure." He says all this with such sadness, like Obito was the one to let him down.

"What if it could be replicated? What if all those pesky little illnesses could be cured? Little Sakura-chan—what would you do without the weight of depression and anxiety to hold you down?"

It was a struggle not to rear back then, to not react. She didn't want to know how he could know such a thing about her . . . that he would even spend the _effort_ to find out such a thing about her. To say it so bluntly for Madara and Itachi and Naruto and Sasuke and God above to hear it laid out in all its ugly bareness.

Orochimaru smiled what might have been considered softy, tenderly. It looked like oil and something slimy to her. "It would be nice, wouldn't it? It's possible, you know. Achievable." He looked pointedly at Shisui then, the first time since she'd been in the too cold room that he'd even acknowledged him laid out on the table.

"Shisui isn't from the main branch," Sakura said slowly.

Orochimaru's eyes flashed. "No, he isn't. Those pesky elders have been keeping too close of a watch on the main branch unfortunately." He looked at Itachi, Madara, and Sasuke then and cocked his head. "But now there's three of them right here in this room."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him and his tone. "You're not strong enough to take them."

"Oh, _no_. Of course not!" He grinned at her like he'd already won. "But _you_ are."

The air froze and Sakura along with it. She nearly sputtered. "Wh—no I'm _not_ ," she said indigently. "And even if I was—"

"Of course you are, Sakura-chan," Orochimaru chided like she was a child unable to grasp a simple concept. "Look at them—worried for you, caring for you. I doubt even you understand the depths of their affection and loyalty to you." He held his one unoccupied hand up in an _oh-well_ gesture. "All you'd have to do is ask."

It was then she understood. He wanted her to ask one of them to sacrifice themselves, to take Shisui's place on the table and let Orochimaru extract whatever it was in them able to cure illnesses and give people the idea of perfection. If it was even possible, which Sakura sincerely doubted. All in the name of The Greater Good.

What a load of bull.

"They'd listen to you," Orochimaru went on. "If you only ask."

Sakura's eyes darted down to Shisui. The silence in the room went on.

Madara began to step forward and Sakura grabbed his arm tightly. "Oh, don't _even_ ," she hissed at him, sounding full of exasperation and the result of having to deal with too many men's bullshit over all these years.

She turned to Orochimaru. "You, sir, are full of shit."

Dead silence.

Orochimaru threw his head back and laughed loudly. "Oh, what a treat you are!"

"Enough of this," Itachi said. "Hand over Shisui or we will kill you." He said it the way someone would say they're going to pick up milk at the grocery store.

"Or—" Orochimaru grinned and laid his hand on Shisui's head, tilting it back for all to see his pale, bleeding throat. "—I simply kill Shisui now and be done with all of these pesky failures." His eyes narrowed.

Sakura pursed her lips. "He _is_ a failure to you, isn't he?" she said idly, not really looking at anyone.  
Orochimaru blinked at her.

"You don't want Shisui—you never have," Sakura went on. She shrugged. "You went to all this trouble getting him to bait us all here . . . but it's still a failure, isn't it?" She looked pointedly at Shisui's eyes then.

"You thought he was different, didn't you?" she said slowly. She bit back the smile that wanted to curve her lips. "You thought he would work."

Orochimaru hissed. "Shisui Uchiha is more part of the main family than Obito Uchiha was. I admit that I had better expectations for Shisui, but alas," he sighed, "twas not to be."

"And me?" Sakura asked. "What was the point of getting someone to attack me in the parking lot of a college, of luring me out here like this? You knew I'd come."

"Pretty little Sakura-chan," Orochimaru cooed. She wanted to tear his lungs from his chest to prevent him from ever gathering the oxygen again to call her such a thing. It wasn't worth the oxygen— _he_ wasn't worth the oxygen, she thought bitterly—nor was the carbon dioxide he was creating. "Don't you see your worth? Everyone's tied around your pretty little finger. It's just a question of who's worth more to you in the grand scheme of things: Shisui or . . ." he let his question trail off, smile curling his lips and eyes darting meaningfully back to Madara and Itachi and Sasuke.

"Is Shisui worth more to you than Madara, the once great patriarch of the Uchiha clan? Who so carelessly used his power to bait the young Obito and his friends up to the mountains?"

Sakura froze, ice rushing in her veins. Her skin felt like it was _on fire_ all at once, itching and she wanted to crawl out of her body.

"That's not true!" Madara roared. "I _never_ —"

"Uncle," Itachi murmured, looking at him out the corner of his eye. Sakura felt for the first time that she was standing between two beasts. "What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Madara snarled.

At the same time, Orochimaru hissed out, "Why, he gave me the location of the Uchiha house up north, of course."

"I gave you that location _months_ in advance," Madara said defensively. "You had the locations of many Uchiha households for transactions and meetings. Obito had _nothing_ to do with it."

Sakura narrowed her eyes, her mouth pressed into a hard line. "Get to your point, Orochimaru."

He licked his lips. "Isn't it odd how the location the _great_ Madara Uchiha gave me was also the location he pressed little Obito to take his friends to? Odd coincidence, isn't it?"

"Well," a voice drawled out lazily, "we could debate about it being fate, but that seems a tad morbid to me."

Sakura blinked in his direction, irritated at Kakashi. "Took you fucking long enough," she muttered bitterly under her breath, letting out a shaky sigh. She scratched at her arm where her scar was without thinking.

Kakashi wiggled his fingers in her direction, never taking his dark eyes off Orochimaru. He was behind him, black gun to his head and nozzle pressed to Orochimaru's temple.

Orochimaru smirked, but the rest of him was frozen and tense. A small trickle of sweat fell down from his temple. "Ah, little Kakashi-kun. Though not so little anymore, hmm? Tell me, where is the other one?"

"Right here," Yamato called, close against the wall nearest Sakura. He moved into the light with his arm wrapped tightly around Kabuto, gun pressed to his white head. His eyes were wide and made of iron. Kabuto was struggling in the way a hurt, rabid dog would—all flailing limbs and pinched faced, not really doing any damage to the man holding him except to be more annoying than he was worth. Yamato kept a solid hold on him and pressed the gun harder to his temple. "Stop moving," Yamato hissed, and surprisingly he did, though slowly.

Kabuto looked more than a little annoyed. There had been another door behind Orochimaru, Sakura noticed. It had been in the one dark spot of the too bright room, and she kicked herself for not seeing it sooner. Though it made sense that Orochimaru would have a way to get out of the room even with all of them blocking the exit they came in by.

Honestly, how anyone could think Kakashi wasn't going to find his way to Orochimaru was ridiculous. Hidden door or not, there wasn't much on earth that could stop that kind of man.

"Not _you_ ," Orochimaru hissed. "The other useless Uchiha brat."

Kakashi hummed. "Obito? No idea."

Sakura didn't think that was completely true, but whatever. "Let Shisui go, Orochimaru," Itachi said blandly. "You're finished."

Sakura locked eyes with Kabuto. He stropped struggling completely against Yamato's hold and smiled, long and slow. She felt something coil and contract in her gut in pain and apprehension. Kabuto—even more so than Orochimaru—would be the one she'd be glad to see gone.

Naruto and Sasuke—having both been completely silent up until that point—must have noticed her diverted attention. Both stepped forward in Kabuto's direction.

"Ah- _ah_!" Orochimaru sing-songed in a high-pitched whine. "Careful you two," he purred. "He likes to _bite_."

The way he said it sent shivers down Sakura's spine. Something wasn't right. They had the upper hand—Kabuto in a chokehold, Orochimaru with a gun pressed to his head by a man not afraid to fire it.

Then Kabuto tilted his head down and bit into Yamato's arm.

To Yamato's credit, he didn't immediately release his hold on Kabuto, just made a sound of pain in the back of his throat. But when Kabuto let up just for a moment, only to bit back harder and deeper, and only when blood welled up on Yamato's arm did he loose enough of his hold for Kabuto to escape.

In the next instant Kabuto had Yamato's gun in his hand, and then Kabuto had knocked the butt of the gun hard enough to Yamato's head for him to crumple to the ground in a heap. Sakura was already moving, had been moving from the moment Orochimaru had said the word _bite_.

The world tilted around her.

It was a mistake. Kabuto was so damn quick. Sakura had a gun in her hand, but she was too scared of hitting Yamato to use it right away and something was undeniably _wrong_.

In the next instant, Kabuto had Sakura's legs kicked out from under her and had his chest pressed to her back, one hand wrapped around her waist, right under her breasts. Her gun was on the floor, and she couldn't remember how he'd managed that so quickly. She didn't understand how he'd managed _any_ of that so quickly.

Something was wrong. The lights seemed to be getting brighter and brighter and brighter. The cold was getting colder, and Sakura tried and failed to remember the last few moments, grabbed at the space of time between Orochimaru saying _bite_ and now, locked in Kabuto's arms with desperate hands, and yet couldn't conjure up anything to fill in that space.

She swallowed thickly, feeling like a cotton nest was taking home in her mouth and throat. She blinked rapidly, trying to think, to fucking _understand_.

Kabuto chuckled in her ear, and this time Sakura couldn't stop the shudder that raced down her spine. "Something wrong, Sakura-chan?" he purred. "Take deep and slow breaths, sweetheart."

If these ridiculous pet names didn't stop, Sakura was likely to set something—or someone—on fire.

Then his words hit home.

Oh, _god_.

Breathing. _Breathing_. Was she hyperventilating? She thought about the heart pumping blood and oxygen—in through the inferior and superior vena cava and then into the atrium. In through the right atrium, into the right ventricle. Use the tricuspid valve. Exit oxygen stage left—out through the pulmonary veins and out through the left atrium and left ventricle. Out through the aorta and into the body.

Breathe, _breathe_.

Naruto's face blurred near her. She could see him trying to take slow, even steps to her, but she couldn't stop blinking against the rays of the lights above to understand why he was looking so horrified. Naruto shouldn't look horrified; it didn't suit him _at all_.

Kabuto said something near her ear. She tried to focus, to understand, but the words obviously weren't meant for her. Naruto stopped walking towards her, and she watched with growing fascination as his face so quickly went red and angry. So much loathing in that kind face. Sasuke was next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. His face wasn't much better, going stone-still and reminding Sakura of an Adonis carved from marble. Her little Greek god, all hers and the baka's.

She closed her eyes. Sakura caught a handful of the words coming out Kabuto's mouth.

 _Air. Poisoned. Skin. Toxins._

 _Zetsu._

She kept her eyes closed against the oppressive lights even as her body screamed at her to open them and _rage_. Zetsu—fucking _Zetsu_.

She was so going to kill him for this.

An _I-owe-you_ , her ass.

She thought about him rubbing his face into her hair, his plant and cannibal tendencies. How he had _licked_ her.

The thing about Zetsu was that he sold information to the highest bidder. He wasn't exactly a member of the Akatsuki—he just worked for them a good deal of the time. No one really expected his loyalty, but when Sakura opened her eyes and breathed deep, she saw the flash in everyone's eyes at the betrayal.

She licked her chapped lips. No. Not a betrayal.

An opening.

An _I-owe-you_.

Zetsu may have poisoned her with some kind of skin-to-skin toxins, ones that likely didn't affect him due to his unique genetic makeup, but he was still a clever bastard.

She internally scoffed.

A fucking _I-owe-you_.

Christ.

 _"_ _May I_ _ **eat him**_ _when you are done_ _ **killing him?**_ _You can even_ _ **chop him up first, make him easier to chew.**_ _"_

She was thinking about poison ivy and its ability to cause reactions on a person's skin so quickly, and how it wouldn't be difficult for someone of his caliber to find—or create—a poison that did something similar, along with the nice little issues she was having with thinking and breathing and concentrating— _that little fuck_. She thought about how she wanted to crawl out of her skin—everything felt like it was on fire inside her, even though she knew she was cold. It was so damn cold in this fucking freezer-like room. She wondered if the poison Zetsu carried on his person had to do with how he only liked warmer climates. She also wondered how she was going to get around to skinning him alive for this.

Sakura breathed deep as she felt Kabuto's hand creep down her stomach, pulling her impossibly closer to him. She swallowed the bile trying to inch its way up her esophagus, not sure if it was a side-effect of the poison or from Kabuto's close presence.

"Pretty little Sakura-chan's mine now," Kabuto said next to her head, more for Naruto and Sasuke's benefit than hers. She could hear the roar of rage from Naruto, almost animalistic in nature.

" _No_ ," she muttered, eyes flashing.

 _I am mine before I am anyone else's._

Taking another breath, Sakura closed her eyes and thrust back the knife into Kabuto's leg.

He screamed, and Sakura nearly fell to the ground once he released her. It was just enough space and she had barely— _barely_ —enough time to slice her hand—right over her scar—and shove it between Kabuto's teeth.

"Bite," she whispered. " _Bite_ , you bastard."

Kabuto shoved her back and she fell into Sasuke. This time, however, the arms that wrapped around her did not bring bile up her throat.

She chuckled, paying no mind to how blood fell down her hand in a steady stream as Sasuke struggled to bind it and as Naruto threw Kabuto to the ground and pulled handcuffs from somewhere off his person to restrain him.

"The lights and breathing will be the most difficult to get used to," Sakura told Kabuto, eyeing the blood dripping down his mouth as he spit and gagged. The bloodied knife was still in her hand, closed in a bloodless grip. Her vision swam in front of her as she listened to Sasuke's muted curses from beside her.

Kabuto glared at her with at first confusion, and then cursed under his breath. "You _bitch_ ," he hissed. Naruto gave him a rough punch to his head for that one.

Personally, Sakura was just glad the pet names were done.

"It appears," Itachi drawled from somewhere besides Sakura. She refused to turn because it hurt her head too much to do much of anything but attempt to stay on her shoulders, "that Zetsu is still a bit more loyal to Sakura-chan than to you, Orochimaru."

Sakura closed her eyes and breathed.

Sasuke's hands were warm on her skin and she felt a trickle of sweat trace its way down her back. She ran through how she was going to get the cure for whatever was in her blood stream. Zetsu would have it; she knew that. But it wouldn't be free.

An _I-owe-you_.

That fucker.

Zetsu wanted more than for Orochimaru and Kabuto to die—he wanted them to _suffer_. He wanted them to feel the pain of being experimented on, of having poisons tested out on them without their permission.

" _I, too, have a_ _ **hunger**_ _that needs to be_ _ **sated**_ _when it comes to_ _ **the snake bastard**_ _."_

She may not know the specifics, but it would make sense. Zetsu's odd genetic makeup, his personality . . . his hatred for Orochimaru and Kabuto.

His fucking _I-owe-you_.

 _Consider it paid in full, you bastard,_ Sakura thought.

Then she almost gave herself whiplash with how fast she tried to struggle out of Sasuke's lap. He caught her by her shoulders before she could move far, however. Her eyes darted to his face in fear and then down at her hand where her blood flowed. She had to blink multiple times before focusing her vision on her clear, bloodied skin . . . but no rash. No odd coloring.

She heaved a sigh of relief. She might be wrong. Maybe she could only pass along the toxin through her blood. But if not . . . if it could be passed along by just touching her . . .

She turned to Sasuke and looked pointedly down at her arm and where he was holding her, skin-to-skin.

He grunted. "We'll deal with it later."

Kabuto was thrashing on her floor. Finally, Naruto just hit him in the back of the neck with the butt of his gun, grumbling to himself as Kabuto lay unmoving on the ground, not far from Yamato, where the exact same thing had been done to him.

Naruto looked behind his back then, flashed a sly smile to Sakura and Sasuke and rubbed the back of his head. "Seemed like the best way to get him to shut up." He chuckled nervously.

Orochimaru hissed. "This isn't over, you fools."

Madara chuckled and spread his arms wide. "What's next, Orochimaru? What else do you have to throw at us?"

Then Orochimaru turned around and cut into Kakashi with the scalpel that had been held against Shsiui's throat.

"Uncle," Itachi said, "please shut up."

Madara cursed and Kakashi let out a pained groan. Orochimaru was able to push him away and Kakashi stumbled. Sakura's vision was blurring horribly at the edges, but she struggled to her feet. The next thing she knew, Kakashi's gun had been kicked over to one of the walls and both he and Orochimaru were scrambling against each other, throwing punches and kicks. Orochimaru hissed. Kakashi grunted.

Sakura pushed Sasuke's hands away and hissed at him and Naruto to go help Kakashi when the back door behind Orochimaru opened—the same door Kakashi and Yamato had snuck through with Kabuto—and more bodies pushed through.

Sakura would swear on her life that she heard Itachi curse colorfully under his breath then.

Then it was chaos.

There were gunshots. Itachi and Madara were moving too quickly for her muddled vision to focus on, and Sasuke and Naruto were near her still, picking off enemies one-by-one. She didn't know where her gun was.

She gripped the knife in her right hand and scrambled over to where Shisui was. Kami, everything _hurt_.

Someone grabbed onto her elbow.

Sakura threw out a punch before she was even done processing that someone was touching her. Tobi caught her fist. "Sakura-chan," he whispered, so softly Sakura was surprised she could hear him. Her eyes flicked out behind him and she dropped her knife.

He twirled then and shot at a woman who'd been coming up behind him. He didn't pause to watch her fall to the ground, just turned back around with an unreadable mask and pressed the knife she'd dropped in her hand. "For protection," he said.

Sakura nodded and let him help her get through the mass of bodies to find Shisui's table, where surprisingly no one seemed to be paying the bleeding boy much mind.

Sakura stumbled to the metal table and hunched over it, over Shisui's body. She nearly whimpered at all the blood up close, running down his soft, pale skin. She felt the rage coil in her gut and used it to push back her feelings of discomfort and nausea.

She reached one hand up to push his wild dark curls out of his face, nearly stumbled backwards when he opened one eye to look at her. "Sakura-chan," he grumbled. His chest moved slowly up and down in shallow breaths. "We gotta stop meeting like this."

She choked on a laugh. "You don't get to be sassy when I'm trying to rescue you," she said. "Leave the clever one-liners to me, okay?"

What she really meant was: _Stop talking, you're losing blood and, oh god, why aren't you opening your other eye?_

Shisui let out something that sounded like a choke mixed with a chortle. Then he went completely serious. "Sakura-chan," he began, "where is—?"

"Kakashi is fighting Orochimaru," Sakura began, looking at his restraints. Leather cuffs tied to chains fastened his arms and legs down to the table while a thick cord wrapped around his abdomen. She could try to hack at the leather with her knife, but . . . "Kabuto's unconscious. Itachi, Madara, Naruto, and Sasuke are fighting. Tobi, too."

Shisui blinked his one good eye rapidly. She watched as his throat bobbed with a thick swallow. He licked his cracked and bloodied lips. "Sakura-chan, I—"

A body rammed into her side then, cutting off whatever Shisui was going to say. Sakura nearly screamed at the impact, hearing Shisui's hoarse and raged cry of "No!" But she managed to keep herself from falling all the way to the floor. She looked around wildly and noticed Tobi was gone, probably had been gone the second she'd gotten over to Shisui. _Stupid_ . . . It was so damn stupid not to think to protect herself in that room, where everyone was fighting and dying.

She honed in on the body that had slammed into her. A girl . . . it was a girl with red hair and a snarl carved onto her face. She had a white bandage tied around her forehead, like she was healing from a wound there.

And she was glaring down at Sakura with a long knife in her hand, a lock of red hair falling between her eyes. "You," she hissed. "You're the one who killed Jirōbō and Kidōmaru!"

Sakura blinked. "Who?" she slurred.

This seemed to enrage the girl even more. She thrust her knife in Sakura's direction. "Don't play games with me, you stupid girl! They were my _friends_."

Then it clicked. "Seriously?" Sakura said almost stupidly. "One of your so called friends attacked me in a freaking _parking lot_ and the other one was content to let him die to jail instead of going against Orochimaru." She shook her head, still eyeing the girl, thinking of which of them would be faster. "Just . . . _seriously_?"

This, obviously, did not fly well with the girl.

Shisui yelled when the girl flung herself at Sakura, arms outstretched. Sakura easily side-stepped the girl and gave herself enough room to land a well-placed kick onto the girls backside.

"Also," Sakura went on, because talking was keeping her from focusing too much on how the edges around her vision swam and her body was positively _thrumming_ was pain, " _I_ didn't kill anyone. You'll have to file a complaint with the Akatsuki about that one." She thought for another second and then said, "And Yamato, too, though he's a little bit out cold at the moment, so—"

Okay, the punch Sakura got in her stomach that time was a little more her fault. She stumbled back and reached out and clung to the side of Shisui's table to keep from falling over. Sakura was able to kick the knife out of the girl's hand after a few more moments, and they traded more punches and kicks.

When the girl caught Sakura's hair in a fist and _pulled_ , Sakura ground her teeth together and lost _all_ her damn patience.

Kicking out behind her, Sakura connected her heel with the girl's shin, causing her to flinch and let Sakura rip her hair free. She flinched and knew she'd just lost more hair to the girl's fist than she would have liked. If she had a bald spot after this, she was going to be so _pissed_.

When the girl stepped towards her, Sakura backpedaled until she was on the opposite side of Shisui's table. The red-headed girl reached for her with a scream, and Sakura was able to grab the knife she'd left on Shisui's table to slice at her abdomen.

The girl let out a shrill scream and covered the bleeding wound with one hand.

Sakura lunged again.

And again.

She parried, kicked, bit, punched, scratched, thrust, and lunged as the girl did the same.

Sakura was breathing hard and bleeding more than she knew she should. The girl wasn't doing much better. If she just wasn't poisoned and already hurt . . . god, this could have been over already. But, damn, this girl was _good_.

Then one white hand reached out from behind the girl and tugged her red hair back in one unforgiving movement. She screamed as Sakura watched, wide-eyed.

Orochimaru sneered out at Sakura, pushed the girl away with one nonchalant push of a hand. The girl tumbled to the floor. "Go away, Tayuya," he commanded. He had a deep red gash on his temple, likely the result of Kakashi.

The girl looked like she was going to fight him on it for a moment, but then scuttled away in the opposite direction.

"Where's Kakashi?" Sakura asked, panting. "I was expecting you to be dead by now."

He chuckled, and it was at odds with the glare he pinned her with. "He's a mere boy, barely any different from when I last cut him open on a silver table . . ." He glanced at Shisui then, and dread coiled tight in her gut. She struggled not to sway. "Much like Shisui here."

Then he raised a gun to the side of Shisui's head.

Sakura froze, her eyes darting to Shisui's one good eye as he stared at the nozzle of Orochimaru's gun.

"You stupid girl," Orochimaru said almost fondly, and Sakura knew in that instant he was truly and utterly insane. "All I wanted was a Uchiha vessel. Just one. That's all I asked."

He shook his head in a false act of regret. Sakura could barely breathe, thinking and coming up with nearly a dozen plans on how to get that gun away from Orochimaru, to get Shisui out of those restraints, to distract Orochimaru, to at least get the bullet to hit something non-vital, to _kill_ Orochimaru . . . and all had probabilities of them utterly failing and Shisui getting shot and dying.

"Do you favor that false patriarch so much more than dear Shisui?" Orochimaru cooed. "How is it dear Shisui is worth less than the others to you? Is Itachi a better lover than Shisui? Is Sasuke a better friend? Is—"

"Wait a second," Shisui interrupted, the first time he'd spoken. He tried to lift his head enough to look at Sakura with one wide eye. "You're sleeping with _Itachi_?"

Sakura choked on the laugh that boiled up her throat. One tear slid down her cheek—the first of many. "Obviously not."

Orochimaru's eye was twitching.

He took a calming breath, then two. Sakura wondered where the hell Kakashi was, if he was even alive. Where _anyone_ was, but this room was still too crowded and too much fighting was going on around her. _Just keep him distracted_ , her mind told her. _Just wait him out._

When he was calm and in his element again, Orochimaru spoke. "Tell me, Shisui," he said, not turning away from Sakura to look at him, "was it worth it?"

"Was what?" Shisui questioned, not tearing his eyes away from Sakura.

"Loving her," Orochimaru said, tilting his head. The gesture made him look young, like this was truly something he could not understand.

Shisui didn't hesitate. "Always," he said, and then thrust out his arm to wrap his hand around the muzzle of the barrel.

Sakura screamed when the gun went off.

She was running before she thought better of it, but Tobi was suddenly there, behind Orochimaru, and Orochimaru had gone very, very still.

Sakura was at Shisui's side in the next instant. She was pulling at the leather restraints. She hacked at them with her knife, but they didn't budge. She looked him over and . . . no bleeding. No puncture wound. He wasn't shot and it was nearly enough to make her crumple.

Shisui touched her face with his one free hand, having somehow gotten himself loose through stubbornness and the knife she'd left by his hand before.

His fingers rubbed against her face and the blood there, but when she saw his fingers, she saw that they were smudging at a combination of blood and tears. She smiled painfully at him. "You _asshole_ ," she choked out.

"Hey, that's no way to speak to the dying man on the operation table," Shisui said, then smiled sadly at her. So much blood was on his face still. "Sakura-chan."

"No," she said harshly. "You're going to be fine, Shisui. Fucking _fine_. Do you hear me?"

He just continued to smile sadly at her. "I told you I wasn't a good person, Sakura-chan."

He coughed, and it came out bloody.

Sakura choked and felt close to hyperventilating again when she heard more voices come from behind her.

Maniacal laughter. "IT'S A FUCKING PARTY BACK HERE! YO, STITCHFACE. BET I CAN FUCKING MAKE MORE SACRAFICES TO JASHIN-SAMA THAN YOU CAN!"

"SEE THE POWER OF MY ART, DANNA! BANG, BANG!"

"He _always_ ruins the mood," she heard Shisui mutter. "Fucking prick. I am trying to be all dramatic and on my deathbed and he _still_ . . ." Muttering continued.

Sakura looked up long enough to see Tobi and Orochimaru. Orochimaru was turned just enough to see Tobi. Sakura could see the knife sticking out of Orochimaru's back.

"This is for Rin," Sakura heard Tobi—no, _Obito_ —say.

Orochimaru looked up at him with wide eyes and a parted, pale mouth, a trickle of blood coming out the corner of it. He gurgled something Sakura couldn't make out, and then Obito pulled back the knife and sliced it across Orochimaru's throat.

Sakura never looked away.

Orochimaru fell in a bloody heap to the floor. Obito looked at it, toed the body with the tip of his boot and looked up at her. He didn't smile his normal, goofy Tobi-esque grin, didn't have a trumpet twinkle in his eyes.

He just looked so, so tired.

Sakura didn't pay a whole lot of attention to everything that happened next. There was screaming. So, so much screaming coming from every direction around them. Sakura was using the metal table to hold herself up by that point, her limbs betraying her.

Shisui was saying something and pulling her more on top of him and the table. She made a sound of protest about putting her weight on him when he was already so injured, that of which he promptly ignored.

"Sakura-chan, I have more drugs in me than I can even begin to say," Shisui said, giving her a half-smile. Or tried to, at least. "That monster at least gave me that."

"What did he _do_ , Shisui?"

She watched the movement of his throat. Sakura cursed herself and pressed a hand against Shisui's throat where Orochimaru had cut him with the scalpel, even though the blood that had been leaking from it was nearly gone, the wound clotted. Still, she tried to wipe away as much of the blood as she could with the sleeve of her already ruined sweater.

"Your eyes . . ." she began.

Shisui closed both eyes. Swallowed again. He brought his one free hand up to the eye he hadn't opened yet. "I still have it," he murmured. "It's just . . . not cooperating right now."

Sakura bit back the questions she had, and instead asked, "Does it hurt?"

He shook his head slowly. "Not right now. I think it's all the adrenaline and drugs I've got in me." He chuckled. "If I hadn't heard your voice earlier, I don't think I would have woken up."

"Shisui . . ."

He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck. The screaming and sounds of gunshots around them were lessening, even though Sakura knew it had only been a few moments since the rest of the Akatsuki had entered the room. She wasn't worried about being caught off guard again, not with Obito standing guard right next to them.

"Sakura-chan," Shisui said, "you're about to pass out."

It was true. She was putting all her weight on the metal table, was nearly on top of Shisui. She felt her vision going black, but blinked multiple times and bit her lip and gouged her nails into her thighs, trying to use the pain to keep herself awake.

She inhaled shakily. "I thought you were dead," she whispered. There was moisture on her face.

Then she steeled herself. "If you ever do this again, I will hunt you down and use all those baby photos of you Mikoto has as blackmail. I swear I will—"

He cut her off with his mouth. Sakura was pliant in his arms, nearly falling into his face with how weak she was and the hand wrapped behind her neck. But she found she didn't mind. She braced her hands on either side of his head, holding herself up as much as possible.

Sakura shuddered into the kiss. Her eyes were open and she could see her tears fall onto Shisui's face, mixing even more with his blood. His eyes were closed, and when Sakura pulled back, his face was soft and relaxed. She could feel his chest rise and fall underneath her, felt his ribs contract and expand.

"' _I hope to arrive to my death late, in love, and a little drunk,_ '" Shisui murmured, more to himself than to her.

She leaned back down to softly place her mouth on his.

He was obviously shocked to feel her a second time. He was still and Sakura placed small nips along his bottom lip, tracing her tongue against his lips until she was inside his mouth. One of her hands found its way into his hair and she scrapped her nails across his scalp. He moaned into her mouth, and Sakura felt a rush of feminine pride.

She kept the pace slow and languid, kissed him like it was a common practice, like it was a comfort she came back to time and again. Her hair was a curtain around them, long and in disarray and caked in sweat and gore.

Sakura could taste blood on Shisui's mouth. His, she knew, and she licked his lips clean of it. She knew what it was like to have your senses full of blood and gore and sweat and horror, and she instead filled his senses with _her_. All her, from her taste to her smell to her trembling mouth against his, making promises she intended to keep.

Shisui caught on quickly enough, keeping his palm curved behind her neck, keeping her there against him, all soft curves against hard flatness. It was the only thing keeping Sakura from falling off the table in her exhaustion. Everything she had left was for Shisui.

It reminded her of a time so long ago, on a couch with a storm raging outside. With Sakura straddled on his lap and him so feral and soft looking and welcoming below her.

It reminded Shisui of a promise he had made when Sakura was settled on top of him, where she would always be in his mind. Her, looking down at him in partial shock and arousal and apprehension, and damn if he didn't understand why. A promise he'd had every intention of keeping.

Sakura was the one to lift her head from Shisui. He made an annoyed sound of protest, and her lips quirked. His hand behind her neck prevented her from moving more than an inch or two from his face.

"So," he began, a bit cockily, "just be to clear, you're _not_ sleeping with Itachi?"

She rolled her eyes. "Stupid. No."

He grinned. "Good." He glanced down and struggled against his restraints. "As much as I enjoy you on top of me, I can't say these restraints are much fun."

Sakura raised an eyebrow.

Shisui leered. "But we could later revisit this particular setup with maybe my handcuffs instead?"

Sakura blinked down at him for a moment, confused, then lit up bright red and collapsed on top of him, finally passing out from the poison in her blood and exhaustion and just being completely and utterly done with this shit.

* * *

"Sakura-chan," someone whispered in her ear. "Sakura-chan, we need you to wake up now. Please, Sakura-chan."

There was white silence reverberating in her head. She felt weighed down, like someone had piled on too many blankets on top of her chest. Something was propped under her head and she felt a crick begin to form in her neck. She felt so damn sore.

"Sakura-chan," the voice came back. It was male and familiar. " _Please_ , Sakura-chan," his voice broke, and Sakura felt something snap in her mind at this, at this pain in the man's voice. She didn't like it one damn bit.

She cracked one eye open, feeling like there was something keeping them glued shut. She wheezed out, "Naruto?"

"Sakura-chan!" his voice croaked, relieved all at once. "You're awake!"

She had to shut her eye again at the volume of his voice. " _Shhh_. Inside voices, Naruto."

His voice lowered considerably. "Sorry, sorry!"

She tried to lick her cracked lips with her too dry tongue. "Where are we?"

"Home," he said simply. It was then Sakura could smell it— _home_. Everything that made up home. Sasuke's cologne, perpetual wet dog smell, paint, burning pancakes, lilac flowers from the candles she was always buying . . .

She felt a wet lick on her cheek then. Sakura groaned and lifted one hand to bat at the furry head. "Hi, Blue."

There was a whine in her ear.

Hands were behind her back and neck then, lifting her up on the couch. She opened both eyes when she was sitting up all the way to see Sasuke frowning down at her. There was a smattering of cuts and bruises on him, but she was beyond relieved to see that neither he nor Naruto were injured too much. Sakura could see that Naruto had some of the same bruises and there was one shallow cut down his cheek.

"Hn."

She blinked. "Sasuke."

"You worried us. It's been two days, Sakura. Don't worry us." He pointed at Naruto with his thumb nonchalantly. "You left me alone with him for _two days_. You're lucky you still have a kitchen."

She just kept blinking.

Then she started crying.

Sasuke froze, going wide-eyed. He looked like a spooked deer in the headlights.

Naruto was blubbering and waving his hands in the air already from Sasuke's comment, but when he saw Sakura's tears he started to cry too. But while Sakura was crying quietly with only a sniffle or two, Naruto was full on sobbing with her name thrown in every once in a while.

Sasuke looked back and forth between them, horrified.

"W-where is e-e-everyone?" she choked out between tears. Sasuke quickly handed her the tissue box she'd given Mikoto once before, what felt like forever ago.

"Zetsu came over to heal you after we all left the warehouse," Sasuke started, moving her feet to the side to sit on the couch with her. Naruto scrambled over to sit on the floor next to her. "The Akatsuki—and us—" he gestured to Naruto and himself, "didn't react very well once we realized Zetsu somehow poisoned you."

"Zetsu w-was one of Orochimaru's t-test subjects," Sakura said, dabbing at her eyes. She blew her nose loudly into a tissue.

Sasuke looked at her for a moment and then nodded, his jaw locked. "Yes. We realized that as well. The journal entries we found in the warehouse confirmed it. None of us had any idea."

Sakura just shook her head. They were all fools. Zetsu, who was a spymaster. Zetsu, who was half plant, part cannibal. Zetsu, who was dangerous.

None of them had taken him seriously enough.

"Did he heal you too?" Sakura asked, coming back to herself enough not to stutter anymore.

"Didn't need to." He shrugged. "The poison was only in you and Kabuto, after you made him drink your blood. Zetsu was the only one able to spread it from his skin like he did with you."

"What was the poison?"

"No idea. Zetsu was tightlipped about it all, even his time with Orochimaru. Some of the others tried to push him to tell, but it didn't do any good."

"If he could withstand Orochimaru, he can withstand the Akatsuki," Sakura muttered.

Sasuke tilted his head at her and nodded. "He said to tell you that your part of the bargain has been paid in full."

Sakura's head snapped up. "What?"

"We gave Zetsu Kabuto."

"He was still _alive_?" Sakura said, incredulous.

Sasuke thrust his head over to where Naruto had his head in her lap. Blue also had his head in Naruto's lap while he idly stroked and scratched behind his ears. The dog's ears, that was. "That one wanted to kill him," he said easily, "but we didn't. Good thing, too."

Sakura closed her eyes. It made sense, she supposed. Zetsu wanted revenge for everything, hence why he poisoned her in the first place.

Zetsu was dangerous. Zetsu was conniving and clever.

Zetsu knew she would figure it out and come in contact with Kabuto. He _wanted_ her to poison him. He could heal her afterwards.

Sakura highly doubted Zetsu had extended the same courtesy with Kabuto that he had with Sakura.

"Zetsu's gone," Sakura stated. It wasn't really a question.

"Hn. Yes."

She swallowed thickly. It was at that moment Naruto's eyes went wide and he scrambled for the coffee table nearest him and handed her a glass of water. "Thanks," she said over the rim of the glass.

"Orochimaru's dead," Sakura said. She remembered the waterfall of blood that had streamed down his throat after Obito had sliced it.

"Yes," Sasuke said again, while at the same time Naruto muttered, "Good riddance."

"And everyone else from the warehouse? There was a girl I fought; I think her name was—"

"Tayuya?" Sasuke filled in. Sakura raised her eyebrows. "She's dead. Everyone is. We found a catalogue of all the people Orochimaru had experimented on. Photos, details of the experiments, everything. We counted and checked, and it seems that everyone he had was at the warehouse. It's finished."

"He called them 'The Children of Sound,'" Naruto said with distaste. "In the files, I mean. All those kids he took . . ."

"Tayuya was grouped with your attacker and the man you, Kakashi, and Yamato saw before at the other warehouse," Sasuke added. "They were the closest things to friends each other ever had."

Sakura closed her eyes. She thought about herself, Sasuke, and Naruto. If someone ever dared touch one of them, she would rein down hell and heaven. The mere idea of losing them made her feel itchy and uncomfortable.

Then she remembered. "Kakashi? What about Kakashi?"

"He got knocked out by Orochimaru," Naruto said. He chuckled. "Was damn pissed about it too."

Then she asked the question she'd been dreading. "Shisui?"

There was a heavy pause. Sakura felt a heavy pressure on her chest again, even though she was sitting upright and there were no blankets on top of her anymore. Tears gathered in her eyes once again. She ducked her head.

"He's alive," Sasuke finally said. "But he lost the use of one of his eyes."

Sakura remembered how he could only open one of his eyes before.

 _"_ _I still have it," he murmured. "It's just . . . not cooperating right now."_

It would never cooperate again, it seemed.

"He's out of the hospital," Sasuke went on, like Sakura wasn't stuck in her own head, like she wasn't replaying the conversation she'd had with Shisui over and over. It was on repeat. "He's at _Red Dawn_."

Sakura looked up and narrowed her eyes. "Have I been on this couch for _two days?_ "

Naruto stuttered. "Of course not, Sakura-chan! You were in your own bed, but you were sweating so much and your sheets needed to be washed so the teme and I, we—"

Sakura rolled her eyes and waved him off. Now that he mentioned it, she felt sticky and gross. "I'm gonna take a shower, I think," she mumbled and made to get off the couch.

Sasuke and Naruto were immediately there, hands on her elbows and back. She grumbled, but didn't protest.

"You're not going in to the shower with me," she said when they helped her to the bathroom door.

Naruto gave her puppy dog eyes. Blue was at his heels, looking all the while like his twin. Sasuke just scowled at her.

A moment passed.

Then two.

She sighed. "Fine. But I swear to god, if either of you look—"

With a whoop Naruto skipped into the bathroom ahead of her with Blue right there next to him. Sasuke just smirked in his self-satisfied way and put his hand on her back to usher her into the bathroom.

Sakura was never more thankful that the bathroom was so large and Sasuke had exuberant tastes.

* * *

 _Red Dawn_ was empty. Technically it was closed, but that hadn't stopped them from getting in, especially since Sasuke had oh-so casually taken the key out of his pocket.

Sakura had raised an eyebrow. "How long have you had that?"

Sasuke didn't look at her and just grumbled something under his breath before opening the door for her.

The first person Sakura saw was Karin at the bar. And then she saw the blonde sitting on a bar stool next to her.

Sakura felt something lodge in her throat when they both turned to look at her.

Next thing she knew, she was in their arms, and it was a mess of pink and blonde and red hair in everyone's mouth and getting stuck in earrings. Ino was screaming something about stupid men in their life and _oh, why weren't they just all lesbians for each other?_ while Karin made some very colorful remarks about castrating the males in their lives.

 _God_ , she loved them.

To Naruto and Sasuke's credit, neither ran away when both Ino and Karin pinned them with their glares. Though they did avert their eyes and shuffle a bit. Karin mouthed something creative to Sasuke that Sakura didn't catch, but watched in fascination as Sasuke went pale.

"That's it," Ino cried, ruining her mascara, pale hands wrapped around Sakura's shoulders. "You're moving in with me. No excuses."

Sakura more felt rather than saw both Sasuke and Naruto tense up behind her.

Sakura chuckled and gently pushed Ino off her. "But then who would feed Blue?"

Ino just blinked back tears while Karin made a slicing motion across her throat towards Sasuke.

"Cake," Ino said. She sniffed daintily. "That's what we're going to do. We're going to have _a gosh darn_ girl's night and make cake and order pizza and drink wine while Kar and I try to convince you to be gay with us."

Karin made a sound of assent. "How about bi?"

Naruto and Sasuke just looked at them all, wide-eyed, and obviously not knowing what to do with the strange creatures in front of them with long nails and pointed smiles that hid far too much.

* * *

Shisui was in the back, sitting alone in one of the private rooms and drinking from a beer bottle. He looked up when she entered through the heavy curtain. "Sakura-chan, baby," he purred.

"Shisui," she greeted, looking at his one covered eye.

He held out his arms and made a grabby motion towards her. "Come!"

She raised an eyebrow. "That's one thing you're never supposed to say to a woman." But she went over to him anyways.

He chuckled and closed his one good eye. "I am on _alllll_ the good pain killers. It's _spectacular_." He spilled some of the beer, that of which Sakura was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to have.

"You look like a pirate," Sakura deadpanned.

"A _sexy_ pirate," Shisui exclaimed. "I am a sexy pirate and I am hoping that you have a roleplay fetish, because hot damn, this eyepatch should be useful in some kind of way. Also," he slurred and swayed a little bit in his seat. Good pain killers, indeed, "I am sorta hoping you take me up on my handcuff offer." His voice dropped to a whisper for that last part, like it was a secret.

Sakura doubted any of the Akatsuk missed seeing Sakura passed out on top of Shisui's chest, though. "I don't know about that," she teased, one side of her mouth quirking up in an amused grin.

Shisui pouted. Then he wrapped one arm around Sakura's shoulders and pulled her to him. "Thank you, Sakura-chan," he whispered into her hair. He pressed a kiss there. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Loose both eyes?"

Shisui pinched her side and she jumped. He was chuckling into her neck now, and she could feel his soft, curly black hair on her face. She turned her face further into him.

" _Maa, maa_ , Sakura-chan," a voice came from the curtain covering the room. "Don't excite the boy too much. He needs to be able to rest without—"

There was a _thud_ and a whine. " _Maaaaaa_ , Yamato-senpai—" Kakashi whimpered.

"Stop using perverted innuendos," Yamato chided. He peeked his head into the room and blushed. Sakura saw the bruises along his face and neck, thought about Kabuto hitting him with the gun. "Sorry for the disturbance, Sakura-san."

Shisui grunted next to her as she smiled softly at him. "Not at all, Yamato. I was just about to look for everyone."

She looked at Kakashi then. He was no longer wearing his black scarf, and he was ruffling the back of head, upsetting the white hair there. He looked . . . relaxed. There was a white bandage around his head where Sakura guessed Orochimaru had hurt him.

It was then Obito came into the room.

Sakura could tell right away that _this_ was Obito, not Tobi. Tobi was gone.

Obito smiled softly at her with a twinkle in his eyes. He was limping, but just barely, holding in his pain. He had the goofy grin Shisui so often sported, and he no longer was wearing anything to cover his face, much like Kakashi. While Tobi had been hyperactive, Obito was more serene. He still had that excited energy around him, but he was more tamed, not as likely to jump off the walls at all times. He looked happy, content.

Sakura almost had to blink back tears. Again.

"Sakura-chan," Obito said softly, and it was so like Tobi but also completely different. It was like Tobi was the doppelganger of this person, like the persona was just the mask hiding the man.

His eyes flicked over to Shisui. Something clever and conniving crossed his gaze when he took in Sakura's positon so close to Shisui, his arm wrapped around her and his head buried in her neck. "I see you've found the new pirate."

"The new, _sexy_ pirate!" Shisui corrected.

Kakashi and Obito shared an amused look, full of meaning and secrets and a past friendship. Yamato eyed them both with a small, proud smile on his face.

Sakura cleared her throat to get their attention. "Are the Akatsuki here?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi shrugged while Obito answered her. "Actually, everyone not here is at the main Uchiha estate . . ." He didn't quite meet Sakura's eyes.

She frowned. "Why?"

Shisui chuckled next to her. "It appeared Madara had some unfinished business with the clan elders. The Akatsuki went along to have a few things settled, such as the Uchiha's shady business partners and how they deal with things in the future. Mikoto and Fugaku will be there too."

Sakura remembered Mikoto's tear stained face at not being able to make a direct move when Shisui was kidnapped because of the clan elders. She knew Mikoto would have a thing or two to say to the elders before this was all over.

She narrowed her eyes at Shisui and then turned to face Obito. "What are you all up to?" she asked slowly.

"Why, Sakura-chan—" Kakashi put a hand over his heart in mock offensiveness, "—when are we _ever_ up to something?"

Yamato made a choking sound.

"It's been a long time coming," Obito went on, shuffling from foot-to-foot. "It's something the Akatsuki have been working towards for a long time. The clan elders need to learn a thing or two about human rights and morals and how not to deal with things. This has been the goal for a while, especially after your own little conversation with the elders." Sakura clenched her teeth at the memory.

"So they're not here," Sakura mused to herself. Maybe that was for the best right now—it let her get her thoughts and feelings in order before she was thrust back into the chaos that was the Akatsuki. "When will they be back?"

Kakashi shrugged again while Obito answered. "It depends. Might be a little while."

"It'll be a bit of a war over there for a while," Kakashi said gleefully.

"I see," Sakura said slowly. She turned to Shisui and grinned like a Cheshire cat. "And _you_ got left behind."

Shisui scowled. "Bastards didn't give me much of a choice."

"So what I'm hearing here," Sakura teased, giving them all a sly smile, "is that I should change my name and move to a new country before they all get back?"

Shisui tightened his arms around her and moved his mouth to her ear. "Only if I get to come with you and we try out those handcuffs?"

Sakura punched him in the shoulder while he laughed. Kakashi pinned her with a very, _very_ interested look and Obito glared daggers at Shisui while Yamato just looked like he was about to pass out.

Sakura felt his pain.

* * *

 _"_ _She wore her scars as her best attire._

 _A stunning dress made of hellfire."_

* * *

Author's Note: Well, that's all folks! This is the end of the road for this series; I hope you've all enjoyed it. Thank you so, so much to everyone who's stayed with me on this little journey from the very beginning. Your favorites, comments, and follows have always been noticed and I am so thankful for every one of you. I had no idea this story, all the way back from _Sakura's Moronic Best Friends,_ was going to blow up in such a way. What started out as a silly little fic turned into this mammoth of a thing I have immensely enjoyed writing.

Now I'm off to write about vampire!Sakura and a certain stalker-ish original vampire who just doesn't understand the concept of personal space. ;p

Please give me your final thoughts on this very last chapter! **REVIEW** PRETTY, PRETTY PLEASSSSEEEE!

Until next time~


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